African Feminism In African Literature

The colonial period in Africa referred to the period when European countries occupied and applied full control over African countries. During the pre-colonial and colonial period, female writers in Africa have been invisible to the African literature (Da Silva, 129). Their role was oppressed by men who were considered the leaders in African literature. Meyre Ivone da Silva, an African feminist, explained why women were deprived from their role in African literature. She argued that female writers were excluded from African literature because of their own voice against oppression towards themselves, in particular, and towards African women in general. Female writers were very critical about the role of African women that was confined to house chores and

These events in history are exposed by the works of Meyre Ivone da Silva, J.A Fisher and Okwiri Oduor.
The discrimination against African women and female writers during the colonial and precolonial periods was well described in “African Feminist towards the Politics of Empowerment” by Meyre Iyone da Silva. “Those critics and anthologists have treated the African subject as an exclusively male product” (Da Silva 129). Da Silva noted that throughout African literature, African male writers were the center focus during the colonization period. The article starts off with an explanation as to why this issue persisted. African women writers unfortunately did not have the same educational opportunities as men. To support her argument, Da Silva referred to the work of an African male writer Chinua Achebe and his novel Things Fall Apart which was set during the pre-colonial times. Da Silva explained that despite the urgent need to restore African women and African writers, stories similar to Things Fall