THE ROLE OF LITERARY ARTIST IN CURBING GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP

Abstract

This  work  sets  out  to  examine  the  fact  that  over  the  years,  women  have suffered   stringent   oppression   from   both   traditional   and   modern   African societies  due  to  the  unsatisfactory  appreciation  of  the  significance  of  women in life. There have been gender discrimination and oppression which aimed at the subordination of African women in general and Igbo women in particular. There  is  a  continuing  lack  of  women  leaders  to  determine  the  political, economic  and  social  progress  of  humanity.  It  is  the  male  subjugation  of women folk borne out of various oppressive cultural practices and patriarchal structures that brought about feminist agitations. This hasover the years led to various feminist writings. This therefore motivated the researcher into finding out  the  part  the  literary  artists  will  play  to  create  necessary  awareness  with regards  to  the  importance  of  women  in  African  leadership.  Relevant  literary texts  and  some  other  literatures  relevant  to  the  study  were  critically  studied; thus  adequate  information  was  collected  and  analysed.  The  literary  approach adopted  for  the  study  is  Alice  Walker  womanism.This  literary  approach  is relevant  to  the  study  because  it  advocates  that  people  have  to  co-exist peacefully  in  the  family  as  well  as  in  the  society.It  is  hoped  that  this  work will  help  people  generally  to  change  their  negative  attitude  to  gender  issues especially as it affects African leadership.