Gender in African literature: The politics of exclusion and inclusion

Abstract

Gender has become a social factor of immeasurable importance. Many scholars and theorists of gender studies believe that much of the difference between the two genders is socially constructed.

This paper examines the politics of gender in human relations which often works to the detriment of women. It also evaluates the efforts made by feminist theorists, critics, scholars and women writers to interrogate received gender (including racial, class and cultural) attitudes and structures that subordinate women. In conclusion, the paper suggests ways of breaking the
cordon of patriarchal hegemony and dominance that hinders gender equity and complementarity. In other words, it proffers the reversal of this gender imbalance by an empowerment of women in culture and literature, thus moving them from the periphery to the
centre and from exclusion to inclusion.