Women Roles and Conditions in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah

Abstract

This paper examines the portrayal of women in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah. The objective is to show the ways women are considered and treated. This study is exerted within a literary frame, thus, in order to analyze the issue of women roles and conditions, and to establish a better understanding of the topic, the research methodologies applied include the analytical and the descriptive paradigms; the sociological approach and gender theory are the suitable for this study. The analysis results in men’s believe in their superiority over women. This fact dominates the public sphere, and makes sex a principle in defining gender roles. The novels selected deal with African women who endure all forms of subjugation, persecution, and humiliation. The authors assign powerful roles to women and make them stand against male chauvinism to exemplify the concept of new women. They fight against any behaviour and traditions that existed in the past and oppressed women.