African feminism

Some argue that African women are the first feminists,[2] were already deeply engaged at the 1985 Women's' Conference,[3] and have long been recognizing each other's contributions.[4] Others feel African feminism became necessary in part due to white Western feminism's exclusion of the experiences of the black woman and the continental African woman. White Western feminisms does not take into account the particular issues black women face at the intersection of both their blackness and their womanhood. Currently, white feminism often classifies African women as "women of color," which groups and thereby represses the African woman's historical trajectory and specific experience.[1] Hazel Carby in "White Women Listen! Black Feminism and the Boundaries of Sisterhood" notes why white feminism is considered the normative experience of all women. She writes, "History has constructed our sexuality and our femininity as deviating from those qualities with which white women, as the prize of the Western world, have been endowed."[5] However, white feminism cannot continue to erase Africa or African women from feminist theory or feminist advocacy, because as the Mother Continent of humanity, the narratives and experiences of Africa's women will always be relevant.[6]

African feminism was not wholly a reaction to being excluded from white feminists' vision of feminism, but also from their own ingenuity and desire to create a feminism that embraced their backgrounds and experiences. African feminism voices the realities of women in varying African countries.[7] Women's needs, reality, oppression and empowerment are best addressed by having an inclusive and accommodating understanding of the generic and more general issues as well as the peculiarities and group attitude to self-definition as women.[8] Naomi Nkealah writes that African feminism "strives to create a new, liberal, productive and self-reliant African woman within the heterogeneous cultures of Africa. Feminisms in Africa, ultimately, aim at modifying culture as it affects women in different societies."[9]

At the same time, Africa is not a monolith and so some have critiqued any idea of "African feminism." There exist differences regionally, ethnically, politically, and in religion, which all work to impact how women conceptualize what feminism and freedom looks like for them.[8][10][11] While African women from, for example, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Senegal will have some commonalities, there will be variations in the way they understand gender and gender struggles.[8] Therefore, these varying cultures alter the way these African women experience the world. Thus, one cannot simply merge all woman under an unrealistic expectation of sisterhood, but instead to recognize and respect the differences that exist as a result of these diversities.[8] There is a commonality to the struggles women face across the world since the common factor is male privilege.[8] The modern African woman is strong, smart, and resilient and has woken up to the options she has. She is no longer satisfied with the options created for her, but seeks to create new options and choices for the generation of other African women that will come after her.[12] Ghanaian feminists, for example, contribute to this by using social media to change the public discourse around feminism.[13]

Colonial roots of gender inequality in Africa suggests that slavery and colonialism was the origin of inequality amongst men and women in Africa. In the pre-colonial area, women held positions of prominence, contributing to society socially and economically in a patrilineal society by managing the younger family members and being involved with international trade. According to Ada Uzoamaka Azodo, "There existed a complementarity of male and female roles in precolonial African societies and that it is during and after colonization that the downfall of the African woman from a position of power and self-sovereignty to becoming man's helper occurred."[14] In Edo and Yoruba cultures, Queen-mothers were a title a king's mother or a free woman with notable status would receive. They would officiate meetings and have subordinate title-holders assisting her. Yoruba and Hausa legends claim that women were even able to hold the title of king. However, this changed in the 20th century with patriarchy and colonialism changing the position of women in society. Female chiefs lost their power as male chiefs began to negotiate with colonial powers. Western ideas about patriarchy that promoted the female dependency on men were superimposed on colonized communities' educational, political, and economic sectors in Africa.[15]

Some scholars have called for more attention in African feminist theory to sex work,[16] the white savior complex and violence against African women,[17] women in the military,[18] fieldwork with African women,[19] same-sex intimacies,[20] contemporaneity,[21] and activists' thought.[22]

African feminism has been divided around issues of sexuality: "African feminists are sharply divided, with the bulk of the majority resistant to challenging heterosexism and homophobia in their praxis against patriarchy. ... Only a few radical African feminists address heteronormativity, while a much smaller corpus of individual queer African feminists incorporate non-essentialist fluid and dynamic understandings of gender that digress the fixed binary opposition of men and women, male and female."[23]

African feminisms address cultural issues that they feel pertain to the complex experiences faced by all women of all cultures on the African continent. In regards to feminist theorizing, many of the authors of such theories originate from West Africa and Nigeria in particular.^[1]

In her article, "West African Feminisms and Their Challenges", Naomi Nkealah discusses the various forms of African feminisms.[24] First, she points to womanism, which she argues is not part of African feminism, as it pertains to African women of the diaspora and not continental African women.[1] Second, she looks at stiwanism, which, on the contrary, places African women at the center of the discourse because stiwanism is deeply rooted in the experiences and realities African women face.[1] Third, she looks at Motherism, a maternal form of feminism that sees rural women as performing the necessary task of nurturing society.[1] Fourth, she looks at femalism, which puts the woman's body at the center of feminist conversations.[1] Finally, she looks at nego-feminism and snail-sense feminism, which urge the inclusion of men in discussions and advocacy for feminism and both argue that the inclusion of men is necessary to the freedom of women.

These modes of feminisms share several commonalities. First, they all challenge the term "feminism," both its Western term and roots, because they bring to the forefront the experiences of the African woman.[1] Second, because they are dependent on indigenous blueprints, they take from the histories and cultures of African peoples in order to create the necessary tools needed to embolden women and educate men.[1] Third, they incorporate "gender inclusion, collaboration and accommodation to ensure that both women and men contribute (even if not equally) to improving the material conditions of women."[1]

The variety in feminisms displays the African woman's active engagement with gender relations.[1]

Some prominent African feminists are Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti and Lady Kofoworola Aina Ademola.

The goal of feminism is to empower women so as to ensure equality to men. For some people, the term feminism incorrectly came to mean a movement that was anti-male, anti-culture and anti-religion.[9] For purposes of inclusion, some women prefer to engage themselves in gender theory and activism by including men into the discussion because it promotes the idea that feminism is about equality among all genders and it is important to note that they also face hardships as males.[8] Because the majority of policy-makers in many African countries are men, some believe that inclusivity is important if women are to gain ground in policy changes that impact them.[8] The importance that many women place on communalism and family results in their desire to work with men to develop an inclusive approach to solving gender issues. In order to eradicate the oppression women face because of their gender, working with men has become a necessity.[8] The role of African men in feminism is nuanced and depends on location, environment, and personal ideology.