Ridiculing Our Dark Practices: The Exploitation Womanhood in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked and Ngozi Chuma-Udeh’s Echoes of a New Dawn

Abstract

In all ramifications, women cry out that they are exploited by the society. They are seen, not heard; their image battered and their roles not appreciated. This proposal is on the image and role of women mostly in African society, and especially in the Igbo society. Woman cry out against exploitation, intimidation, domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and all other attendant evils committed against them. In Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked, young, innocent and naïve girls are taken advantage of, and sold out for prostitution and other money making ventures by those they trusted. At the end of the day, humiliation. Dehumanization and even demented lives become the fate of women, contrary to expectations as can be seen in the cases of Nneoma, Efe, Alice, Fola and the others. Women are used, condemned and dumped by the men. So, it is envisaged that women, especially modern feminists, should look at the problems, not as a matter of fighting for rights and human beings. Lucia in Chuma-Udeh’s Echoes of a New Dawn cries against the inhuman treatment in widowhood that women face. The denials and humiliation as seen should be stopped as woman deserve better life even after the death of their husbands. This paper advocates the emancipation of women, as well as calls for their proper integration in all facets of life in our societies.