CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Gender is the state of being a man or a woman and is generally used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological differences. Gender inequity is not based solely on gender differences, but on how people are treated differently because of their gender (Kolawole, 1998). Most of the changes in the gender system presented as “revolutionary” involve women in positions and activities formerly reserved for men, with little change in the opposite direction. The source of this asymmetry is one aspect of society’s assessment and reward system that has not changed much – the tendency to devalue and poorly reward activities and jobs traditionally held by women. Women have made great contributions in their diverse communities, covering the full range of ethnic nationalities that populate what is now Ghana (Ikoni, 2002).
Darko’s emerging voice gives a new feminist perspective to gender and class issues in contemporary African writing. It explores a recurring theme of sexual exploitation of the most vulnerable members of society. In his works of fiction (Beyond the Horizon, 1995, Housemaid, 1998, Faceless, 2003, and Not without Flowers, 2007), sexuality becomes a supreme metaphor for examining the values of Ghanaian society. Faceless exceeds other works in artistic intensity and complexity. In this novel, Darko defines female sexuality in terms of a complex trope of transformation from voiceless voices to voices and movements beyond faceless to the face or the person. She urges women to make their voices heard so that their lives are sustainable. Faceless women are stigmatized, but they do courageous acts to rid themselves of the yoke of oppression in a male-dominated society.
According GodessBvukutwa, patriarchy is so rooted in most African contexts that trying to separate it from our humanity is unfathomable for the most part. Meanwhile, apologists (including women) insist on equality between the sexes is a Western notion that will never work in an African creation. Moreover, Lady Bvukutwa argued that after years of listening to the same rhetoric by many men, government officials and even some women, this genre is a borrowed word, that gender equality is A Western notion that Africans imported, and stuck in African contexts; And therefore the same gender equality will never work in an African institution. However, Cham, Mbyre (2012: 89) stated that patriarchy was defined as a system of sexual power. It is a network of social, political and economic relations through which men dominate and control female labor, reproduction and sexuality, and define the status, privileges and rights of women in a society.
It is a successful system because those who obtain this privilege are often unaware of it and consequently perpetuate involuntarily the ill treatment of people in this society whose suffering is the fulcrum on which this society turns. According to Kolawole, Mary (2011: 116), this social system has managed to survive for a long time because its main psychological weapon is its universality as well as its longevity. It is difficult for many people to imagine a time when this system did not exist. It is even harder for people to imagine a future less patriarchal. But this must change (Kolawole, 116). Given that Labeodan (2012: 76) argued that a complete revision of our mentalities when it comes to African culture must take place if there is hope for the Black Consciousness Movement in this century.