Citation: Bilkisu Baba SALEH (2023). The Portrayal of Women Oppression from Iris Young’s Theory of Justice: An Analysis of Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. 11, Number 1. Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660
THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN OPPRESSION FROM IRIS YOUNG’S THEORY OF JUSTICE: AN ANALYSIS OF BUCHI EMECHETA’S
SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
By
Bilkisu Baba SALEH
Abstract
This paper tackled an investigation of the
work of a prominent African novelist Buchi Emecheta. It scrutinized the
contemporary African patriarchal society where women are oppressed and
subjugated. The paper exposes the dilemma women experience through her work by
showing the type of oppression a female figure is bound to encounter in her
life in Igbo society.
The paper used second-class citizen novel for the data collection and adopted
the theory of Iris Young for data analysis. The study found that women experience
violence by being beaten and exploited through domestic work and control of
their own money. In addition, men’s
abandoning of their children or living the financial support of the children in
the hands of women after divorce can lead to their powerlessness. Cultural
imperialism causes discrimination through women’s suffering upon getting a
divorce. As a result of the oppression, women begin to disrespect their
husbands and move towards emancipation through a divorce. It is true that conflict is unavoidable in any marital life. However, it
can be minimised through respect and mercifulness to one another. Men should
show a lot of kindness to their spouses and women should be dutiful, respectful
and well-behaved. Couples should regularly seek the suitable practice of
marital relationships through counselling.
Keywords: women, oppression, experience,
patriarchy, marriage
1.0 Introduction
The entire people of every society are
treated on the foundation of the morals of their culture which mostly consist
of rigid patriarchy. The disparity in sex is also a cultural norm that credit
men and disadvantage to the women. For this reason, the situation of women in
any given society is difficult and contains aspects of various problems. Gender
discrimination or patriarchy are norms about roles which is structurally
organized to place women in lower position. In Igbo society and numerous other parts of the world, the disparity
of female and male roles takes place in diverse form of structure mostly recognized as the family. This domain is set up by men and serves as a means of continuous life to women but forms the foundation for women’s subordination. For this reason, women are left behind in
numerous domains and henceforth the rise of contempt and the manifestation of numerous discriminations against
women. Igbo society is such a
communal and cultured society, it is the reason why the paper interrogates
Young’s
theory to investigate their women’s situations in literary space. The activities of frequently gender-based
happenings in Igbo public and private lives contribute to supporting and forming gender oppression. As Emecheta’s culture and the novel in question contain oppression of the girl child, it meets up with theory’s perception of females’ coercion. For this reason, the paper will also
examine women’s circumstance
that led to their oppression in Igbo society.
2.0 Iris Young’s theory of Justice
As
gender oppression has been experimented with from varied points of view, it can
also be investigated by examining the features of discrimination. The Young
theory looks into the situation of people and separates the notion and
circumstance of injustice that occur to any individual into five types to
reflect on the condition of the oppressed. According to
this theory, the oppression of women arises because men and women are joined
together so that males can gain benefit from the subjugation of the females.
This category of oppression comprises of issues such as denial of the right to
education, rights to properties, right to a decision, choice of marriage,
discriminatory divorce right, citizenship, custody right, violence, restricted
land ownership, rape, gender disparity/inequality, inferiority, domination,
enslavement, marriage and its consequence, negligence of women empowerment,
political right and many more. This kind of oppression concentrates on keeping
men’s control over women within their private and public domain. It is normally
supported by religious decrees and traditions that give men authority and keep
women groups in lower position. These descriptions take in all the activities
of injustice by the means of marginalization, imperialism, powerlessness,
exploitation and violence that mostly occur in the home and have been
experienced by women globally.
2.1 Exploitation type of oppression
(Young, 1990, p. 49) states the notion of
oppression as exploitation which she refers to as “the steady process of the transfer of the result of the labour of one
social group to benefit another.” Young used the notion of the “Marxist
feminist” that perceived the foundations of women’s oppression in class
division which points towards the exploitation of most of individuals by the
capitalist. Exploitation enacts the relationship of power and inequality. As a
group, women experience gender exploitations in which their energies are spent
repeatedly undetected and unappreciated usually to benefit men. This means that
women are exploited through the regular transfer of their energies because of
men’s control. (Young, 1900, p. 50) proclaims that “gender exploitation has two aspects, transfer of the fruits of
materials labour to men and transfer of nurturing and sexual energies to men.”
This explains the traditional belief that married women should do the household
chore and attend to their husbands.
2.2 Powerlessness as a Category of Oppression
Powerlessness
also produces another oppression that denies individuals to give command or
directives. It is the reason why broadens her notion of oppression that of
“powerlessness as those whose power is
exercised without their exercising it. The powerless are positioned so that
they take orders and seldom have the right to grant them” (Young, 1990, p. 56). This means, the injustice
women experience due to lack of authority and exclusion from full participation
in detectable problems such as decision-making, and experience of disrespectful
behaviours because of one’s gender. (Young, 1990, p. 57) insists that “the oppression of powerlessness bring...The
social division between those who plan and those who execute.” Men’s
authority over women in terms of imposing rules, giving directives on what to
do and expect obedience without protest are what render them powerless.
2.3 Cultural Imperialism
Young
likewise expresses the notion of oppression to cultural imperialism
which “is to experience how the
dominant meaning of a society renders the particular perspective of one’s own
group invisible” (Young, 1990, p.
58). Imperialism refers to the culture of the majority and the
organization of its customs. The dominant group augments its position by
bringing the other groups beneath the law of its dominant standards. (Young,
1990, p. 59) argues that “the dominant group reinforces its position
by bringing the other under the measures of its dominant norms…the differences
of men and women… as deviance and inferiority.” This means, the minority
groups have no voice, recognition or identity, and appear to be different. The
same thing is applied to differences between men and women.
2.4 Violence as a Form
of oppression
Violence is the last but one more form of
oppression that causes destruction to life when members of society can
understand the unpleasant experience. (Young, 1990, p. 61) states that violence is also a form of oppression in
which “members of some group live with the knowledge that
they must fear random unprovoked attacks on their persons or property...to
damage, humiliate or destroy the person.” Many issues of violence are shown through the
dominant group wish to retain dominion and to continue to keep the oppressed
inferior. (Young, 1990,
p. 62) states that “women, black… live under such threat of violence.” The reason is
to maintain willpower that is to oppress. Women as weaker beings had
experienced one form of violence by their community members and it is mostly
done for selfish reasons or to impose obedience when they are becoming deviant
to their expectations. Often connected to violence are the presence of forced
marriage, incest and domestic violence such as beating, wounding, striking,
etc. Women often times had experienced various forms of violence which turn
them to an object of vulnerability.
3.0 Analysis of Second
Class Citizen (1975) from Iris Young’s
Theory of Justice
In second class
citizen, Emecheta laments the various kind of injustice women experience in
Igbo society.
3.1 Violence against women
Violence
particularly the physical one that women have to bear from their spouses or men
in our society is one part of the injustice Emecheta depicts in her novel. While her works are marked with frequent
occurrences of physical violence but the oppression that she offers in this
novel normally deals with women’s types of oppression.
3.2 Theme of Beating
In a patriarchal society, marriage gives men
legal control which permits them to do what they like in their own home. This
allows men such as Francis to use physical violence upon his family. Frances
states that “my father knocked my
mother about until I was old enough to throw stones at him. My mother never
left my father’’ (Emecheta, 1974, p. 183). Frances declaration about his
father’s violence may possibly show that Igbo men like to influence obedience
through violence. As women are expected to control their anger and remain
silent in men domineering societies such as Igbos, husbands may feel
comfortable beating their spouses. For the reason that women are expected to
remain silent, uncomplaining, obedient and submissive to their husbands. In
this case, it oppresses a wife such as Adah through constant humiliation,
burden and sacrifices a lot in her private life.
3.3 Exploitation of Women
Exploitation
is an additional part of gender oppression that Emecheta uncovered in her work
to indicate the reality of the humiliation women experience regarding marriage. She showed that African society
exploit women through domestic work and control of their earnings.
3.4 Theme of Domestic Work
Domestic
work exploits women through the division of labour assigned by society. Men
have the privilege of getting much free time but women are constantly occupied
with domestic and subsistence work such as cooking food, fetching water,
farming, washing rearing children and taking care of the husband. Frances
argues that: “A woman was a
second-class human, to have sense beaten into her...to make sure she washed his
clothes and got his meals ready at the right time. There was no need to have
intelligent conversations with his wife because, you see, she might start
getting new ideas” (Emecheta, 1974, p. 175). This oppressed women
through constant work and would not allow spaces for other opportunities such
as attending schools, engaging in good businesses etc.
3.5 Theme of Control of Earnings
Women are always under the control of the
patriarchal structure that whatever they earn or do even for themselves, it is
continuously under the man‘s authority. When Adah married Francis and got a job,
Francis is worried and requested for his father’s opinion. (Emecheta, 1974, p.
20) states that Francis said:
Do you think our marriage will last if I allow Adah
to go and work for the Americans? Her pay will be three times my own...You are
a fool of a man,…Where will she take the money to?... The money is for
you...Let her go and work for a million Americans and bring their money here,
into this house. It is your luck. You made a good choice in marriage, son.
Adah is
exploited by her husband through constant control of her salary. In Nigeria,
Frances used her salary to educate his siblings and feed the family. When she
joined him in U.K, he spent her salary for the family expenses because he
completely depended upon Adah for financial support. Adah argues that “Was there a month when your father did not pay the
rent, give food, money, pay for all your school fees?” (Emecheta, 1974,
p. 183). This means, Ada takes care of
all the responsibilities of the family. Emecheta portrays Adah’s
exploitation by Francis as the ultimate protest of chauvinism and Francis’s
attitude oppresses Adah through denial of controlling her own money.
3.6 Imperialism in Marriages
Imperialism
is another gender oppression the author used to disclose the real distress
women face when ending a marriage.
The organization of every community gives the right for husbands to terminate
their marriage but in this case, the husband uses the opportunity of his right
to divorce to humiliate the wife. For this reason, Women are troubled due to
the measures in ending their marriages.
3.7 Theme of Patriarchal Imperialism
Due
to the power of patriarchal imperialism of Igbo community that gives men
domination within marriage, women are discriminated against if they decide to
get out of marriage. Adah left Francis in order to get a divorce.
She was with her kids in a house she rented. But, Francis went and told her
that “In our country, and among our
people, there is nothing like divorce or separation. Once a man‘s wife, always
a man‘s wife until you die. You cannot escape. You are bound to him” (Emecheta,
1974, p. 183). Emecheta shows men’s domination and control by husbands as the
reason for chauvinism in Igbo society. As a result of this oppression, women
experience hardship in getting a divorce.
3.8 Theme of Women Powerlessness
Powerlessness
is yet another instance of gender oppression revealed in the work of the author
to point to the actuality of women plight in Igbo society. She showed that women remain powerless
during divorce particularly when the husband decides to abandon his children.
Emecheta is viewing that women are oppressed for single-handedly looking after
the children.
3.9 Theme of Abandoning Children
Adah
views Francis as a person that takes advantage of her. He is always
unsympathetic towards her. When Francis visited Adah‘s house, he brutally beats
her up. For this reason, Adah desired safety. Therefore, she took the matter to
the court of law. But, when the magistrate requested her marriage and the
children’s birth certificates she could not provide them. Because Adah was
powerless to stop Francis from burning them. Also, this gave him a chance to
deny their marriage as well as their children. When the magistrate questioned
him about the upkeep of his children Francis said: “I do not mind their being sent for adoption’’ in response to what
Francis said Adah said: “Do not worry sir. The children are mine, and that is
enough. I shall never let them down as long as I am alive. (Emecheta,
1974, p. 185) Emecheta depicts Adah’s mistreatment by Francis as the
representation of prejudice and powerlessness. Adah is powerless because she
could not force Francis to accept his own children. Emecheta positioned men
such as Francis as a man whose interest is the female body and selfishness.
Discrimination attached to this oppression is that women are left with the
burden of taking care of the children and at the same time experience several
challenges for a life time.
4.0 Discussion
Based
on the paper’s argument on the oppression of women in Emecheta‘s novel, It is revealed that numerous forms of
injustices are the sort of oppression that are present in the book
analysed Iris Young’s faces of oppression have been identified and discussed in
this paper. It is shown that Igbo society is deeply rooted and maintained
various forms of injustice. The
primary sources responsible for these injustices are assigned fixed roles and
responsibilities that women have to bear as a daughter as well as a wife
without matching benefits to that of men. It is
shown that married women undergo violence through beating. Domestic violence has played a
vital role in the lives of women in one way or the other. In Igbo society among
others, men can control their women through violence if they want to. This is
done to implement total submission on the part of the woman to the man. It is
usually done through constant beating, slapping, verbal abuse, or even rape.
(Uchem, 2001, p. 95) argues that in Igbo society “There are things that a woman
was not free to say formerly…physical
force was also used. There are some
women who were regularly treated to a cup of morning tea by their husbands
daily before leaving the house each morning.” For this reason,
women like Adah were agonized adversely due to continuous violence by their
husbands. The attitude of violence toward women turns them to become deviant
towards the person who oppresses them. Violence disrupts family unity, creates
hatred as well as results in divorce, physical disability and affects one’s own
children. This is exemplified in Adah who supported divorce than enduring
constant beating from her husband. Also, an
injustice that Emecheta complained about is the issue of exploitation in the
form of domestic labour assigned to women and control of their
own money.
(Young, 1990,
p. 48) that “Women domestic labour
represents a form of capital class exploitation in so far as it is labour
covered by the wages a family receives.” Various women see the work assigned to men and women are not balance for it is greatly one-sided. Because, women frequently bear an extensive
load of work. On
the other hand, women are also faced with the problem of exploitation through
control of their own money by their husbands which they feel it is oppressive
as a result of denial of something they own. Maybe it is the reason why (Chuku,
2004, p. 27) quotes (Baden,
1921, p. 88) who argues that “women have few rights in
any circumstance, and can only hold such property as their lord’s permit…the
only possession can really be labelled as the property of a wife are her water pot, market basket and
calabash together with utensils and all the vegetables.” Women
suffer adverse effects because they lose their money through their husbands. As
a result of men’s control of their women’s money, Igbo women become conscious
of this oppressive practice and hide the existence of their money from their
husbands. Women could not open up with their spouses and may rather trust a
stranger than the person they know for a long time. Women like Adah become financially
disadvantaged and have been denied the right to be economically independent. (Barrett, 2014, p. 158) argues that “women wage work to
serve as an advantage to capital that married women workers present and to be
drawn on in times of need and as a reserve army.” For this reason, women are
being oppressed economically through the control of their earnings. Divorce is acceptable in all
societies but amongst the Igbo the consequences’ is so great that women go
astray when they are divorced. Women lose all their assets upon divorce that
renders them in enormous misery. (Baden, 1921, p. 88) states that upon divorce,
The action of the husband will be upheld by the
native law. The wife, so treated is deprived of all her property and also her
children; indeed, neither ever was hers. Her only possessions are her cooking
pots, market basket, and a few
other small articles pertaining to the domestic side of the house.
After
divorce, most children will remain under the custodian of their father but in
other cases, men will leave the children with the divorced wife and it is their
mother who looks after them without any financial support from their father. In this case, women will miss family benefits, and can experience poverty and single
parenting which render them
helpless and suffering before the children grow up as represented in Ada
situation at the end of the novel. (Peterson, 1989,
p. 106) insists that “Divorce has a
negative effect on women’s economics well-being… divorced women have a lower
standard of living.” the woman grieves most for she would be dispossessed of all her assets
and her children. But in Ada’s case,
she single-headedly took care of the children.
5.0 Conclusions
In conclusion, this paper has
examined injustice from Young’s theory in Second Class Citizen. It was found
that a lot of gender oppression occur in Igbo community through injustice of
females. The most common injustice is the exploitation, which is one of their
communal problems upon married women. The patriarchal control in Igbo society
reduces women’s full control of their own asserts, gained through hard labour
as well as experience continual exploitation through
domestic work. Moreover, the social appearances of
oppression is presented through females, shattered by custom that approves
domestic violence to enforce obedience within marital relationships. Often,
women are frequently victimized through beating or
slapping, that turn them to level of vulnerability. This is why it is significant to point out that the females’ passage to
matrimony is occupied with suffering, agony and difficulty. It can be determined that women experience imperialism due to cultural
ethics to maintain marriage, no matter how difficult it is. As a result, women
experience hardship in getting a divorce. Often connected to divorce is
powerlessness, women suffer through the abuse of powerlessness when marriage
ends and husbands abandon their own children. It is
vividly clear, that women endure hardship by being treated like slaves. As a
result, they begin to disrespect men whenever there is any act of oppression,
and move towards emancipation through divorce. It is true that conflict is
unavoidable in any marital life. However, it can be minimised through respect
and mercifulness to one another. Men should show a lot of kindness to their
spouses and women should be dutiful, respectful and well-behaved. Couples
should regularly seek the suitable practice in marital relationships through
counselling.
References
Barret, M.
(2014). Women oppression today: The
Marxist feminist encounter.Verso Books
Basden, G. T.
(1921). Among the Ibos of Nigeria.
See-Key Service
Chuku, G.
(2004). Igbo women and economic
transformation in South Eastern Nigerian 1900-1960. Routledge.
Emecheta,
B. (1974). Second class citizen. Fontana.
Peterson,
R. (1989). Women, work and divorce. New York Press
Uchem, R. (2001). Overcoming women’s subordination in the Igbo African culture and in the
catholic church: Envisioning an inclusive theology with reference to women in
U.S. A. Universal Publishers.
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