Feminism In John Chizoba Vincent's 'Tell It To Women'

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Introduction
Feminism is a collection of movements which are aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women as well as seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education, employment, and other spheres. Hooks, B. (2000) writes that "Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression". (p. viii).
Historically, feminism is divided into three waves with each one exploring the connectedness of the same feminist issues. Joannou, M., & Purvis, J. (1998) wrote that, “The women’s suffrage movement embodies a deliberate and self-conscious attempt to break the traditional patriarchal mould of British politics, and to discover new, radical and often collective methods …show more content…

(p. 322).

Using Feminist Criticism I analyzed “Tell it to Women” by Nigerian author, poet, and scriptwriter, John Chizoba Vincent. I found that this particular poem heavily portrayed male dominance from the stand it takes. Patriarchy has fully manifested itself in this poem. “Tell it to Women” is directed at all “women” as no particular race, ethnicity, nationality or sexual orientation has been specified. “Tell it to Women” is also a reminder of some sort, reminding women of the role that men play in their lives and vice versa.
I determined that this particular poem promotes traditional roles, for example Vincent writes: “You must go when we ask you to go/That is the authority endowed us by nature in Adam”, “Came from our ribs as a misleading companion”, Nature made us who we are, men of courage”, “show me a successful woman and I will/Gladly point out a man behind her success story which may lack behind her teeth after men are gone” and “That their future lies in the house of a