WHY FEMINISM WILL NEVER SUCCEED IN AFRICA

GINA WEEKEND COLUMN,
By
Habibu Gente
Date: Saturday, 24, September, 2016
WHY FEMINISM WILL NEVER SUCCEED IN AFRICA
Some few decades ago feminism waves begun to sweep the intellectual
environment of African women. The word ‘feminism’ has no problem, but the
way its served as guide to every misfortunes, public immorality, and its
intellectual timidity upon which its adherents gathered under a single umbrella
to clamoring gender equality in virtually every aspect of society management.
That alone done the ravaging enmesh in the psychology and mental thoughts
of African women.
Which in turn brought about the pervasive traumatic problems and all sort of
the reality of our society vices and disorder. However, my reason for this
censor is never the’ gender equality’ of what feminism literally stand for,
rather it is the worldwide campaign trend its adherents outrageously seeking
its endorsement with little or not iota consideration of people’s cultures,
norms, and social values. Even though one of African Nigerian young women
writer of 21st century feminist advocate, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie out
rightly write in promotion of African feminism: she has this to say in her talk
she delivered in December 2012 at TEDxEuston the paper titled { “We should
all be feminists”}, a yearly conference focused on Africa. ‘ when I decided to
call myself feminist, then an academic, a Nigerian woman told me that
feminism was not our culture, that feminism was un-African, and I was only
calling myself a feminist because I had been influenced by western books.
She then proceed further. ‘Anyway, since feminism was un-African, I decided I
would now call myself a happy African feminist. Then a dear friend told me
that calling myself feminist meant that I hated men. At some point I was a
happy African feminist who does not hate men and who likes to wear lip
gloss and heels for herself and not for men’.
You will agree with me if I say feminism from the onset as a school of
purported ‘radical’ movement from western worldview , was deficient and had
neither fully nor adequately dealt with the questions and problems of race,
racism,{ especially white supremacist anti-black racism} and has waves which
are totally antagonizing our Africa struggles and believes , not to talk of the
intellectual exclusivist of Black Africa ‘lived-experiences and life-worlds’
beginning from horrors of colonial experience to the malice capitalism
oppression and subjugation of black Africans both continental and Diaspora
{ fundamental issues bordering Black Africans for a very long time has never
be advocated by the so-called ‘African feminists’}. Based upon the above
facts of ‘feminism’ its one-sided fight and agitation of ‘equality of rights for
women’ and their exclusion of black-African intellectual struggle of anti-
colonialism, anti- capitalism,anti-racism, and all other praxis written. Hooks,
1981, writes “ Together to fight for women’s rights because we did not see
‘womanhood’ as an important aspect of our identity. Racist, sexist,
socialization had conditioned us to devalue our femaleness and regard race
as the only relevant label of identification” . if only those Africa ‘Radical
feminists’ of our time could perhaps ponder, meditate and have reflection on
these few lines and other works of women like Hooks, { African-American},
only then the African ‘gender equality’, and the political rights will be surely
achieved in its fullest form. But before that should be accomplished African
women need to join the protracted fight of intellectual anti- racism, ant-
capitalism, ant-imperialism which African women left for only the African men
incessantly fighting. When this fight is won, every other thing will follow suit
{ like African feminism, and the state of Androgyny women are advocating.}.
All the negative effects of ‘feminism’ brought in African, it may be that it is
not the right platform for African women, in my mind, should African women
step onto the terrain and enter into the insurgent intellectual orbit of Africana
tradition of critical theory of anti-colonialism, anti- capitalism, anti- racism
and consider themselves { African women} capable of revolt against white
supremacist to dismantle the white superior ideological theories of white
Marxism theory, and make uninterrupted journey to what C.L.R James{one of
the doyen Black African social critical theorists} incessantly major recurring
theme emphasized ‘transformation through revolution’ .’ .There will surely be
born an intellectual movement that will answered the questions and
addressed 'misogynism' and the society will be dual of "Philogynism' and
"Masculinism".