Women, protest and social change in Julie Okoh’s Edewede

Abstract

The 21st century African society is rife with oppressive and retrogressive customs and values that oppress and subjugate women. As a result, African women writers have embraced literary forms and subjects that highlight these issues and advocate for their elimination from society. Among these writers is Julie Okoh, a playwright, who projects her concerns about the dangers of female circumcision in her play, Edewede. Using feminism as a theoretical framework, this article interrogates Okoh’s adoption of the principles of two opposing feminist perspectives─African and radical feminism─with a view to revealing their impact in rousing her female characters from subservience, ignorance and passivity, to revolt against their oppression through social protest. It is discovered that education, consciousness-raising, sisterhood, female solidarity and resilience are powerful tools for women’s empowerment in the play. It is recommended that women should not be context bound in their choice and expression of feminist perspectives, strategies or weapons in the fight against gender inequality, oppression and exploitation; they should be open to contemporary avenues and progressive choices that will pave the way to their emancipation and social change.