The dynamics of women’s empowerment and disempowerment in Cameroon: a study of Anne Tanyi-Tang’s play, Ewa

Abstract

This article explores the issue of women’s empowerment in Cameroon, looking at the ways in which the gains of empowerment are constantly depleted by forces of disempowerment. It highlights the complexity and peculiarity of the Cameroonian experience of empowerment and disempowerment, as deduced from official reports and social science studies. It then moves on to analyse a play text by Cameroonian writer Anne Tanyi-Tang to determine the extent to which this dramatic text both sheds light on the dynamics of empowerment and disempowerment and offers possibilities for women’s economic empowerment and social transformation. The article argues that the play Ewa proposes significant strategies for women’s economic and social empowerment which involves engaging in enterprising business activities in combination with educational pursuits, while also breaking away from social relationships that enforce women’s disempowerment and pursuing lifestyles which enable self-empowerment.

Keywords: Anne Tanyi-Tang, Cameroon, disempowerment, education, empowerment, Ewa, women’s economic independence