WOMEN’S SEXIST LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF PATRIARCHY: A RE-READING OF NWAPA’S EFURU

Abstract

Sexist language is any discriminatory language that is either spoken or written which implies an unwarranted bias against a particular sex. Patriarchy is a concept that empowers men to see themselves as superior, while women are subordinate. It is said to be at the root of sexism, and is usually practised by men against women, as revealed by various research works. There is, however, a dearth of research works on sexism as practised by women, specifically in works of fiction. This work therefore is poised to examine selected utterances of the female characters in Efuru by Flora Nwapa so as to show how these utterances reflect sexism, and so help to sustain patriarchal ideology.The theoretical framework isFeminist Critical Discourse Analysis, and Sara Mills’ criteria for evaluating statements for sexism is used for the descriptive analysis. This paper is of the view that women use the indirect form of sexist language thereby helping to sustain and perpetuate the patriarchal ideology of male domination and female subordination.