BLACK AFRICAN WOMEN IN COHABITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: THE DEPICTION OF FICTIONAL STORIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21109553Keywords:
Cohabitative relationships, Black African women, Feminism, Womanism, StiwanismAbstract
This paper investigated how African women in cohabitative relationships, defined as married and/or unmarried couples who live together and have sexual relationships, cope, as portrayed in the ten selected fictional short stories by black African women writers. The short stories were selected for the recurring themes of women’s empowerment and disempowerment. The study used a qualitative approach by looking at views related to black African women in cohabitative relationships as portrayed in literature. It was informed by the black womanism, stiwanism, and the feminist theories. The sample was purposively selected by looking at how black African female authors in English of fictional short stories depict the experiences of black African women in cohabitative relationships. The experiences of black African women in cohabitative relationships, both positive and negative, may be traced back to the traditions of a specific society, and the attitudes and culture of a specific society determine the way they cope with their experiences. The findings indicate that black African women’s unequal position in society means that they have less power, income, protection against violence, and less access to education and even ownership of land. Further findings revealed that black African women in cohabitative relationships appeared to be victims most of the time and that they did not react to their fates, thus, were often depicted as passive and submissive. There are some elements of bias by black African women writers, as men are often portrayed in a negative light. Furthermore, black African female authors usually present and represent a certain segment of one side, resulting in imbalances of gender representation. African short stories seem to provide a voice to voiceless women; however, it is likely that victims do not have access to the voices that present and represent them.
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