MOTHERHOOD AND GENDER DISCOURSE IN MABEL EVWIERHOMA’S OUT OF HIDING POEMS

Abstract

Feminism was invented to be the voice in defence of women to liberate
them from their major enemy – male. The objective of this study was
to examine gender concerns in the poetry of selected African feminist
poet, Mabel Evwierhoma. This was based on the premise that much
gender scholarship tend towards thematic examination and the
influence of the various cultures of the continent. This study was thus
aimed at explicating the gender issues in the selected texts alongside the
techniques the poets employ. The theoretical framework was
womanism, a theory that emphasises complementary rather than
antagonistic roles of the African woman. The theory is also based on
women’s self-assertion, self-retrieval, and self-expression encouraging
younger women’s audibility and consciousness. The poems analysed in
the study are from Evwierhoma’s Out of Hiding poems. The study
revealed that women of today are not in completion with their male
counterparts. The. The selected poet aims at obliterating some
oppressive or negative structures which implicate women; employ
images drawn from her culture as techniques to depict her gender
concerns. The study concluded that female poets are still engaged in
the struggle to positively depict women in their contemporary roles.