| dc.description.abstract | This study explores the representations of “the new woman” in selected works
by Ama Ata Aidoo, namely: Changes (1993), Our Sister Killjoy (1977), and Girl
Who Can and Other Stories (1997). Ama Ata Aidoo addresses the conditions
and needs of continental African women (African women who reside on the
African continent) and points out key issues relating to discrimination and
exclusion on the basis of sex and gender objectification, structural and economic
inequality, power and oppression and gender roles and stereotypes. It reviews
several studies carried out on works by Ama Ata Aidoo thus providing this study
with the privilege of filling the gaps that were not addressed. It is finally noted
that Aidoo does not agree with the view that the success of a woman should be
gauged by her ability to get married and have children as emphasised by African
tradition. To her, the success of women does not lie in their ability to reproduce
but rather in becoming productive in other aspects that benefit humanity and
promote the independence and progress of a nation. Aidoo clearly implies that
for any nation to develop effectively the role of a woman must not be ignored.
A woman has to join hands with the man in order to see a better nation, it should
however be noted that the position of a woman in the contemporary world is still
a hustle since it is proven through all the new woman characters that it is hard
for women to live as single or divorced without enigma from the society | en_US |
