Melinda Medina
English 37503 (Sec. D)
Professor Laura Hinton
The Inferior Sex
In the novel, Joys of Motherhood, byBuchi Emecheta,females are perceived as inferior in the patriarchal system of African society. Women are expected to bare children, specifically male children, to carry on their husband’s family name. If a woman is infertile or barren, she seems to not be a woman at all. Female inadequacy leads women to feel unable to fit feminine characteristics, such as baring children.Furthermore, men are defined by the ability to impregnate a woman and to have male children. If a woman is unsuccessful at becoming impregnated, the fault falls solely on her, and never the man. Hence, men are considered superior and never are they assumed to be inadequate due to their position in the hierarchy. Furthermore, women and female children are secondary to males in the African society.
Women always have a duty to be loyal to a man and what that man desires. Emecheta writes, “Because [Ona’s] father had no son, she had been dedicated to the gods to produce children in his name, not that of any husband...She had to be loyal to her father, as well as to her lover Agdabi” (18). This statement is proof that once a woman is born, her loyalty is expected to be shown to her family, specifically her father. The loyalty of a woman is transferred from one man to another. For example, the loyalty is transferred from a woman’s father to her husband. Therefore, a woman never has control over herself, her body, her sexuality, and what she desires to do. A woman is expected to be content in following the men in her life, and the position they place her in. Ona states to Agdabi, “You know my father would not have liked it...I refuse to be intimidated by your wealth and your position” (27). This statement is proof that as a woman, Ona must keep her promise to her father because she feels a sense of obligation to him.
Women are perceived in the African society as subhuman and as property. For example, Emecheta writes, “[Ona] supposed she should regard herself as lucky for two men to want to own her” (25). This statement implies that women are treated as property and objects, and men are their owners. Emecheta goes on to write, “She is a woman so I don’t see why [she would not go back on her promise]” (26). This statement is proof that the word of a woman means less than a man’s. As a woman, one is not upheld to the same standards and expectations of honesty and righteousness as men.
From a very early age, women and men are taught their place in African society. For example, Emecheta writes, “My sons, you will all grow to be kings among men...My daughters, you will all grow to rock your children’s children” (29). This statement is proof that men and women all have their place. Men are referred to as “kings,” which displays their superior position in the hierarchy system between men and women. Women are expected to be content in their positions as mothers, and grandmothers caring for the children they bare. Furthermore, a woman’s sexuality is oppressed in African society. Agdabi states, “My daughter has been found an unspoiled virgin” (31). This is proof that a woman’s virginity is highly praised in African society. A woman is expected to be a virgin up until the point of marriage. If she is not found to be a virgin, she is disgraced and the shame falls upon her and her family.
Women are expected to bare children, and if they do not do so, they are considered barren and infertile. If this occurs they are subjugated by their society to being identified as subhuman. Furthermore, women who are barren are perceived as unfeminine. For example, Emecheta writes, “Nnu Ego was not surprised when Amatokwu told her casually one evening that she would have to move to a nearby hut kept for older wives, because his people have found him a new wife” (32). This statement is proof that males are expected to take whatever steps necessary to impregnate a woman to carry on their name and inherit their land. Therefore, women fall secondary to marriage and the sanctity of marriage is in question in terms of the Westernized ideal of it. Men marry women to reproduce other males, and if a woman cannot bear children, she is outcasted. Nnu Ego says, “O my chi, why do you have to bring me so low?” (32) This statement is proof of a woman feeling less than a woman, because she cannot conceive.
It is difficult for a man to consider himself as imperfect. Emecheta writes, “It is difficult for him to accept the fact that anything that comes from him can be imperfect” (33). This statement is proof of a man being defined by a women’s inadequacy. However, men believe themselves to be superior and therefore, it is difficult for a man to conceive that he has issues or has a child that has issues. Hence, in men’s eyes, men are perfect. Men want to control women. Emecheta writes, “[Ibuza men] wanted women who could claim to be helpless without them” (36). This statement is displays that a man desires a woman who is weak and unable to be independent.
African society has a lot of sexist ideology where women are considered inferior and expected to follow in the footsteps of the man in her life. The male figure can be a woman’s husband or her father. There are rules and expectations set that women are expected to follow. In African society, men are the owners of women and whatever property that woman has, belongs to the man. However, in pre-colonial versus post-colonial society, feminism and masculinity, and the roles of men and women start to be redefined.
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