African Feminism's Unyielding Voice

Feminism is an ideology that is a lived experience by African women. There is and has always been an enduring debate on the place of feminism in Africa. With heated debates questioning if the feminist ideology is purely a Western concept? Can it be considered “un-African” to be feminist? These discussions create a mirage that makes believe that the practice of feminism goes against the ingrained culture and traditions of African Women. Feminism is seen as an ideology that is contrary-so to speak- to the Africans and is most times associated with the West, mainly because of the continued documentation of the Western feminist movement as compared to the lack of documentation of African women's suffrage.

Looking at the written history of feminism, the movement began with the need for women to have a voice, a voice in leadership through the suffragette’s movement on their voting rights in Europe and the United States of America. Followed by the fight for influence in the decision-making process, as well as eliminating discrimination against women. However, recognition and acceptance of the feminist ideology in Africa at the time were still being taken with a pinch of salt. Clouding the true essence of feminism through differing perspectives that further divide instead of uniting.

As aforementioned, the lack of documentation and subsequent discarding of the intersectionality of feminism created a worldwide notion that the feminist ideology did not appear and apply in the African context. On the contrary, the women's movements from South to North, East to West of Africa had been actively involved in the fight for the struggles in their specific countries, be it colonialism to democracy or security and health. Aside from this, women have fought for their own space and recognition, to be involved at the leadership’s tables and agenda setting, that men have for so long eaten and gotten drunk on the fruits of power and access. It is also poignant to point out that, African women have overcome many barriers and continue to do so. It is therefore unjust and surely a mistake to assume that feminism does not belong to Africa.

African activists have disallowed the belief that one can subsume all feminist agenda under a Western cloak. To emphasize, at the 1978 international conference on women and development at Wellesley College, Egyptian novelist Nawal El-Saadawi and Moroccan sociologist Fatema Mernissi challenged the efforts of Western feminists to define global feminism. Plus, in a key UN conference, African women activists have been visible from the beginning. The Kenyan women's group helped organize the 1985 Un conference on women in which African women brought issues of apartheid and national liberation to the fore. Additionally, Tanzania’s Gertrude Mongella was general secretary of the pivotal 1995 UN Beijing Conference. In matters of security, African women peacebuilders played a crucial role in the 2000 Windhoek conference, which tiled the way for a UN security council resolution that encouraged the inclusion of women in peace negotiations and peace-making missions around the world.

We have been able to see how feminism is characterized in the continent, especially with African literary writers and their insistence on choosing not to be labeled as feminists even as they engage in feminist work. This has changed over the years with the discourse on feminism in the younger generation of African women becoming every day throughout the continent on websites, blogs, journals, and social media. New waves of literary third-generation feminist novels like Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owour, Kintu by Jenifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and Americanah by Adichie have offered a broader lens of re-imagining women in literature.

This is not to say that the track for African feminism is clear there are enormous hurdles placed for African feminists to overcome. But as they have over the past half a century, African women activists of today are reshaping not only African feminist agendas in the continent but also being louder voices in tackling challenges globally.

#Africanfeminism

#Thefemininerhetoric.