Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes: A Feminist Analysis of
THE REIGN OF WAZOBIA AND OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN

TOBALASE, O. ADEGBITE

Course: ENGLT 911
Advanced Methods in Literary Textual Analysis

Literature – Championing Societal Causes
Literary writers and critics the world over always utilize literature as a means to champion the cause of society. It has become an obligation whether they are dramatists, poets or novelist to use their different literary genres to interpret social actions for the main aim of realizing a more habitable society in terms of human relations. They also continually strive to employ their works as veritable tools for the methodical and orderly transformation of their immediate society.

Besides the aesthetic function of literature, it is also didactic (i.e. it educates and informs). The need for continual teaching and information brought about the several literary theories that we apply today to the analysis of all literary works. Our focus in this study is the application of feminist theory to literary works, with emphasis on drama.
Feminisms & Feminist Theory
According to the Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) feminist literary theory is a complex and dynamic area of study which draws from a wide range of other critical theories including anthropology, psychoanalysis, Marxism, cultural materialism, historicism and structuralism. Broadly defined, feminist criticism examines ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social and psychological oppression of women. The themes of feminist theory usually include discrimination against the female gender, stereotyping, sexual objectification, oppression and patriarchy.

Feminism refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women, and/or women 's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women 's rights and interests. Some scholars define feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Who then is a Feminist? Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) defines Feminists are persons of either sex, or females only (in which case males may be profeminists), who believe and propagate feminism.
The history of feminism can be divided into three waves. The first wave emerged in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the second occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist theory emerged from these feminist movements. Feminism has changed conventional viewpoints on a wide range of areas in human life, from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women 's legal rights—such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights—while also promoting women 's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have resisted and protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic matters, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay, and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women (Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today, 1999).
During much of its history, feminist movements and theories were led predominantly by middle-class white women from Western Europe and North America. Since that time, women in former European colonies and the Third World have proposed post-colonial and Third World feminisms. Some postcolonial feminists, such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty, are critical of Western feminism for being ethnocentric.
Feminism in Africa
Feminism in Africa was borne out of the 2nd wave movement that attacked cultural and political inequalities between the sexes. Beginning in the early 80s, earlier writers like Nawal El Saadawi, Chikwenye Ogunyemi and Molara Ogunsipe-Leslie interpreted and transformed the wave of feminism handed down to them from the western feminist mainstream, by showcasing and examining through their works, the particular struggles and goals confronting the African woman, and their battles against the very local and global effects of patriarchy and capitalism.
Against the disadvantage that patriarchy had become in Africa, where a woman who had come of age but not married was openly ridiculed, prejudiced and denied her rights. Theorists like Chikwenye Ogunyemi, who coined the term “womanism” and Catherine Acholonu using the term “motherism”, adopted self naming as a strategic guideline for determining and defining the unique goals of the African woman in her struggles. Other female writers who have been involved in this struggle include Tess Onwueme, Akachi Ezeigbo, Bola Sotusa, amongst several others. These emerging voices are constantly seeking redress for female equality with the men folk.
Assumptions of Feminist Literary Theorists
Irrespective of the age of these movements, the assumptions of Feminist theorists are the same:
1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, socially and psychologically; and patriarchal ideology is the primary tool adopted to keep them so.
2. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, a woman is “other”.
3. Civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology as women are grouped into two: good girls and bad girls. The biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death into the world.
4. While biology determines our sex (male/female), culture determines our gender (masculine/feminine).
5. All feminist activities (feminist theory and literary criticism) has its ultimate goal which is to change the perception of woman as the weaker sex and promote gender equality.
6. Gender issues play a prominent role in every aspect of human production and experience of literature, whether consciously or not.
All the above listed assumptions as postulated by Lois Tyson(1999: 90-91) are related as they overlap into others, but the summary of their stand point is that patriarchal ideology has a pervasive, deeply rooted influence on our state of mind, reasoning, way of walking, sitting, dressing, manner of speech, things we do (or don’t do).
Feminist Analysis – Helpful Tips
In the application of feminist literary theory to any text, the below questions will serve as guide and make the analysis much easier:
1. What does the work reveal about the operations of patriarchy? How are women portrayed in the text (i.e. does the text have a patriarchal agenda or a feminist agenda)?
2. What does the work imply about sisterhood as a mode of resisting patriarchy and/or about the ways in which women’s world in society can be improved (be it economically, politically, socially or psychologically)?
3. What does the work suggest about the ways in which race, class, and/or other cultural factors intersect with gender in producing women’s experience?
4. What does the work suggest about women’s creativity?
5. What role does the work play in terms of women’s literary history and literary tradition?
This paper shall attempt to answer all the questions raised above and come to a conclusion at the end of the critical analysis of the selected plays.
A Feminist Reading of Selected Plays
All literary theories can be applied to all writings/works, but some works will lend themselves more readily than others to particular theories. We however shall restrict our application of feminist theory to the dramatic genre of literature, with emphasis on two African texts – THE REIGN OF WAZOBIA by Tess Onwueme and OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN by Ola Rotimi. Two texts were chosen to be able to do a comparative analysis of the role and influence of the author on the works, considering that one is female while the other is male.

Feminist Textual Analysis of “The Reign of Wazobia”
At the beginning of the play Reign of Wazobia (1992), Wazobia introduces us to the oppression the women folk in Anioma kingdom were being subjected to. She makes a clarion call for the women to arise and stand up for what they believe in:
Arise Women!
They say your feet are feeble
Show them those feet carry the burden of the Womb!
They say your hands are frail
Show them those hands are heavy
Wake up, women!
Arise, Women
Barricade the entrance to the city
I can hear trumpet sounds
Voice of men spitting blood to drown us.
With your claws hook them
But spill no blood for these are sons of our womb… ( 2; 1992)

Tess Onwueme did not waste time in revealing to us that patriarchy was the norm in Anioma Kingdom as women are subjected to all forms of oppression from the men folk, especially cultural oppression. The culture of the clan was clearly patriarchal as women are only used to fill vacant positions while the men are being groomed to take over after only three seasons. Wazobia however is not willing to relinquish that position and we see a transformation immediately she is crowned. She instructs Iyase, a male chief to kneel and pay obeisance to her, something that the Chiefs do only to male kings. Wazobia: (Authoritatively): You will kneel, Iyase!... (Vehemently): Kneel. Iyase!!! (pgs 12 – 13)
At the end of the fight of the sexes, Iyase trembling finally succumbs “knees down, facedown, hand tucked behind him.
Wazobia enlightens the women and makes them understand the need to be liberated from the oppression of the patriarchy dominant in their society. The womenfolk keyed into the new ideology and were united on all fronts.
The bonding of the female gender in the play is very clear and thorough as they totally bought into what Wazobia represents (freedom and emancipation for the female gender) and are always yielding to her instructions. Also, we see the women watch each other’s back in times of challenges. Bia is seen eavesdropping on the discussion of Iyase and Idehen as they plan the down fall of Wazobia (pg 41, 46 - 47). Again in pages 48 – 51, Bia and Zo eavesdrop on the plot by Iyase and Anehe to poison Wazobia. Upon this discovery, we see the entire women of Anioma kingdom come up with their own plan on how to save Wazobia from the evil plot of the menfolk.
Omu: …men are poised to throw Wazobia into the seas as sacrifice. To appease their ego, dethroned, for daring to tell you women that you have a right to exist.
Chorus of women: And we say NO
Omu: This is why you must stand behind Wazobia with your bosom, your king, that men will not penetrate. At this moment, men hold their meeting to unseat Wazobia. Wazobia is “us”. We are Wazobia, together we stand. What they plan is abominable and we shall match force with force. Together, join hands. (1992: 52)

This shows a total unity among the women as they decide to go naked to ensure that Wazobia is not dethroned. Tess Onwueme dramatises the rare, unique “Nude March” where the women all embark on a nude procession to resist intense oppression. The action is their last resort to save the day. This sisterhood bond was a mode adopted to resist patriarchy and the effect gave them the needed freedom.
Wazobia, due to her education and exposure was able to convince the other less educated women and this contributed significantly to the liberation of the rest of the clan. It was easier for Wazobia to convince the younger generation but had to go an extra mile in convincing Omu who was used to the old idea of men being superior to women.
Onwueme in this play queries why the African woman is always at the receiving end, that despite all her efforts to ensure peace at the home front, the man is never satisfied. Onwueme engages our sensibilities through the patriarchal societies believe that the woman should always provide succor for the man in all situations and at all times. Tradition is fully in support of female subjugation as the female is expected to serve her husband and always be at her beck and call. We see the man who chases his wife into the palace for not preparing his food, lay the table and await his presence by the food till whenever he comes back. This he believes is tradition which he insists must be upheld: Man: Tradition?
And is that why a woman, a mere woman that I paid to get with my own hard earned money should challenge me in my house? Does she think I carry these balls between my thighs for nothing? . . . the gods of our land ordained that a man must own a wife to bear him children (1992: 24)

In Wazobia’s own estimation, the society must be able to cope with modern trends and promises. Tradition must change with time so as not to be termed “barbaric”.
Feminist Textual Analysis of Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
We see similar experiences faced by the female gender in Ola Rotimi’s “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again” (1977). In the early part of the play before the emergence of Lisa, the playwright presents a duo of uneducated, docile women who are rendered inactive by a long period of subjugation under patriarchal culture that has made their oppressed state to look like a natural way of life. These women can be illustrated with Ola Rotimi’s play “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again” before the intervention of Liza in the play.
The man of the family, Rahman Lejoka – Brown, is the lord and master of his household as his orders are as potent and as final as those of the gods. His is a traditional African family that is anchored in the culture of his people and the exigencies of the time. He acquires Mama Rashida, “a well-mannered, quiet, well-bred African pigeon” (1977: 9), from his late elder brother. “Mama Rashida was the oldest of my late brother’s wives”, he explains to his friend Okonkwo, “My elder brother … died in a train accident… my father … had married her off to me!” (1977: 9).
It is revealed to us that he only marries Sikira to meet the demands of his political ambition as he is in need of women’s vote and having realised that Sikira is the daughter of the president of the Nigerian Union of Market Women, Lejoka-Brown “acquires” her for electoral victory. He has put an agenda in place to settle her with money and send her away after the election victory.
Lejoka Brown it is seen is far removed from his wives emotionally and otherwise and this is evident in his relationship with them. His communication with the wives are mostly in the form of commands and orders to which they unreservedly respond “Yes, my Lord”. The women have neither voice nor choice; neither ambition nor power and are completely dependent on their husband. The house is “peaceful” because patriarchy – that obnoxious belief that man must be-on-top of woman (whatever that phrase means) -- is maintained. The women are complacent about their subservient position because to them, it is a natural state and they do not agitate for another as they are unaware of any alternative way of life for wives within a traditional family.
The patriarchal doctrine they grew up to know has totally bemused them and made them to believe that the man is a stronger sex and he is not to be queried. It has to take someone from outside with a different way of life to rouse Sikira and Mama Rashida from their slumber. Liza’s education and exposure is brought to play in the liberation of the other wives as it exposes the enslavement of the other women. She teaches and makes them to know that “men and women are created equal”, and that women must fight for their freedom from patriarchal laws.
Liza, unlike the other wives is empowered by formal education as she is trained as a medical Doctor. She is intelligent, powerful, independent and assertive. She knows what to say and how to achieve her aim. She is a totally different woman from Mama Rashida, a trader and Sikira, a full time house wife. She is a symbol of an empowered, modern African (Nigeria) woman.
Liza refuses to be “doomed to becoming one of the three sacrificial slaves” in the “nauseating, clay-walled, gas-chamber” of a house, just because she is married to a chauvinistic man. Liza mingles with the other women and empowers them in the best ways she could in the spirit of sisterhood. For instance, she helps Sikira (who she initially thought was a house girl and not a wife) to develop poise, and shows Mama Rashida how to boost her petty trading to yield her higher profit. The fact that the women hold tenaciously to what they have learnt and have also started making use of them at once confirms the fact that they were in the subjugated position because they lack the knowledge and the power to agitate for an alternative. At the end of the play, the family breaks up because the husband fails to make necessary adjustments to accommodate the new women. Instead he uses violence and intimidation to force a new woman into an obnoxious old traditional family.
He believes it is his sole right to set the standards and principles that dictate moral and social conducts: It is for the women’s own to follow without questions; thus lejoka – Brown was taken aback when Sikira confronts him by telling him “men and women are created equal”.
According to Osita C. Ezenwanebe in her paper Consciousness, Literature and the Arts (2006), she said:
The comic-farcical method of Ola Rotimi’s Our Husbands frustrates the feminist reading of the play. It is clear that the playwright’s aim is to make fun of all feminist ideals. In his subtle way, he, like some other Nigerian playwrights, upholds patriarchy in the name of preserving cultural tradition. In using the comic-farcical approach to feminism, he trivialises its ideals (2006: 11).
This postulation is arguable as Ola Rotimi can actually be said to be promoting female emancipation, and that is why Lejoka Brown agreees to Mama Rashida’s appeal to go and start her farm outside of the home. Also, Sikira’s becoming the Party’s aspirant, replacing Lejoka-Brown himself affirms this. The agenda discussed in the play cannot be said to promote patriarchy, rather it promotes feminism.
Conclusion
The plays suggest that exposure and education has a major role to play in the liberation of the female gender. Education is indispensable in developing self consciousness. The backwardness of African women has been identified as the major obstacle to feminist consciousness. Their backwardness, Ogundipe-Leslie correctly asserts, “Is a product of colonization and neo-colonization, comprising poverty, ignorance and the lack of a scientific attitude to experience and nature” (Ogundipe-Lesli 1994: 35). It is believed that such critical transformations will bring about a just society where men and women will co-exist in equal dignity and love.
It is also a fact that our society is “patrilineal”, and that forces the society to hold the male child in higher esteem than the female counterpart, and this is often displayed in extravagant words and deeds, not to mention the act of wife battering which is taken as the normal way of “controlling” one’s wife. These and other instances testify to the fact that Nigerian society cannot exonerate itself from the oppression of women. The task of Nigerian feminist is to make Nigerian women realise that these degrading practices are forms of women oppression which feminism sets out to eradicate.
These plays have met all the criteria set for ascertaining feminist work and we can say that Tess Onwueme and Ola Rotimi are feminists despite the difference in their gender.

References
Ezenwanebe , C. Osita (2006) “Feminist Consciousness and Nigerian Theatre, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts”, Archive Volume 7 Number 1.
Humm, Maggie (1990). The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. p. 278. ISBN 0-8142-0506-2.
Lois Tyson (1999) Critical Theory Today: Garland Publishing Inc. New York & London.
Ogundipe-Leslie, Molara (1994) Recreating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations, New Jersey: African World Press.
Ola Rotimi (1999) Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again: University Press Plc, Ibadan.
Onwwueme Tess (1992) The Reign of Wazobia and Other Plays: Heinman Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; http://www.google.com.ng

References: Ezenwanebe , C. Osita (2006) “Feminist Consciousness and Nigerian Theatre, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts”, Archive Volume 7 Number 1. Humm, Maggie (1990). The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. p. 278. ISBN 0-8142-0506-2.  Lois Tyson (1999) Critical Theory Today: Garland Publishing Inc. New York & London. Ogundipe-Leslie, Molara (1994) Recreating Ourselves: African Women and Critical   Transformations, New Jersey: African World Press. Ola Rotimi (1999) Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again: University Press Plc, Ibadan. Onwwueme Tess (1992) The Reign of Wazobia and Other Plays: Heinman Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; http://www.google.com.ng