Empowered or Victimized? Addressed or Ignored?

Empowered or Victimized? Addressed or Ignored?

The battle for women’s liberation crosses cultures and often makes a very good focus by which an outsider might scrutinize a society. While pointing out similarities may give a sense of solidarity, it is important to note that, the battle for women’s liberation changes forms in different contexts: “whereas Western feminists discuss the relative importance of feminist versus class emancipation, the African discussion is between feminist emancipation versus the fight against neo-colonialism, particularly in its cultural aspect” (Peterson 251-2). Ngugi’s said that an “ideological starting point” for dealing with post-colonial issues is women’s liberation: “No cultural liberation without women’s liberation” (Peterson 254). Rooted in the oppression of imperialism, the men in a post-colonial society often take out their need for power and validity by oppressing and exploiting women in their native culture. In colonial societies, women were often raised in status above their male counterparts in order to further their emasculation. As a result, men tried to reassert themselves by denigrating women and their roles in and contributions to society. These same women must now search for ways to assert themselves and overcome their less than enviable situations.

One way to follow the battle to find an identity in a post-colonial society and to witness changes in the mentality of a culture is to look at a society’s literature. In Petals of Blood, privileged Ngugi addresses the role women play in the workplace; he also remedies some oversights found in other post-colonial literature dealing namely with women’s place in society and women as valid literary figures. Last, while Ngugi, a male pos...

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