A Comparative study of gender portrayal in Selected African male and female authored novels

Abstract

This study is a comparative analysis of the portrayal of gender in selected African male and female-authored literary works, namely, Oyono’s Houseboy, Ocwinyo’s Footprints of the Outsider, Kyomuhendo’s The First Daughter, Karooro’s The Invisible Weevil and Sinyangwe’s A Cowrie of Hope. The study was guided by three objectives: to examine the gender stereotypes in the selected literary works; to analyse the objectification of women in the selected literary works; and to investigate the effectiveness of the language used in the portrayal of both male and female characters in the selected literary texts. The study hypothesizes that both male and female genders are susceptible to stereotypical representation in African literary works. The study was purely qualitative and library-based that involved a close reading of both primary and secondary sources of data. The Marxist feminist literary perspective was used to anchor the critical analysis of the representation of gender in the selected literary works. The analysed data was then organized into four chapters. The findings of the study reveal that gender misrepresentation is a dominant theme in the selected African literary works authored by both males and females, and that this misrepresentation manifests itself in gender stereotypes by both male and female authors. According to the selected male African authors, besides Sinyangwe (2000), women are portrayed as the weaker sex, materialistic, witches and dependent beings, while men are presented as strong, industrious and responsible beings. Although female writers portray female characters as brave and intelligent, their portrayal of men is rather scornful—men are lustful, chauvinistic, callous and violent. Regarding the objectification of women, women are presented as sex objects and material objects—men’s property; and regarding the use of language in the selected literary works, there is predominant use of sexist language that perpetrates subjugation of both genders depending on the sex of the author. Finally, the study recommends that gender scholars and activists should employ a variety of lenses in the analysis of gender representation for purposes of gender equity and balance.