By PRISCA SAM-DURU

Dr Eno Ikpe, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, Dr Tonia Yakubu and Dr Ofure Aito at the event

Last week at the centennial International Women’s Day celebration held at the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, organised by PEN Nigeria in collaboration with the English Department, UNILAG, one striking issue raised which ended unopposed was that women may after all, be their own major undermining factor. Although lots of factors ranging from the negative impact of Patriarchal system in pre-colonial dispensation which indirectly operates in present times, robbing women their fundamental rights of equal opportunities in homes, education, politics, culture etc were identified as inimical to women’s development, it was however noted that often times, women act as vehicles for the implementation of certain customs and decisions, which work against their interests.

This year’s theme, Equal Opportunity for Women in Education, Culture, Politics and Economy which focuses on sensitising the society on the need to empower women in order to improve their condition, also emphasised on turning the searchlight on women’s valuable contributions to the growth and development of the family in particular, and the society in general.

In her brief opening remarks at the event, the Chairperson, Women Writers’ Committee of PEN, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo while ushering in four young and dynamic academics, Scholars and Writers who shared expert knowledge from their different disciplines, especially in relation to women, attested to the fact that there has been a great change in the world of women against the situation in pre-colonial days noted that though the change is still slow, also promises that with time, incidences of human trafficking, prostitution, slavery, girl child devaluation, female genital mutilation and rape in Nigeria and other parts of the world would cease to exist.

Prof. Ezeigbo who decried the rate at which issues relating to women are being politicised in Nigeria, enjoined the men to constantly empower, encourage and support the women to become more relevant in the society, stressing that “when the woman makes progress, the family makes progress”.

On literary matters, it was noted by Dr. Ofure Aito who presented paper on Women in Literature: Representations of the Dynamics of Nigerian Women’s Identity, that women’s nature and activities have been vulnerable to diverse interpretations and representations by male and even female writers. In some cases, she said that they have been acknowledged for representing beings whose importance cannot be quantified while in some others, they have been termed mere symbols of ideological frameworks.

Dr Ofure’s topic which was treated under three perspectives , the representation of the imaging of women in narratives by male writers, the act of articulating women’s dynamic identity through literature as writers and as women; and female character interpretations in literature designed to capture the dynamic evolution of women, concluded that the imaging and re- imaging of women are drawn from experiences, memories and thoughts of historical and cultural evolution.

In other words, the purpose of re- imaging of women by writers is to examine their role so as to situate the present and direct the future while defining the female presence in constructing new social, political, cultural and economic identity schemes. According to her, the identity imaging of women in literature dynamically stems from “the feminised continent to appendages of male desires”.

Cyprian Ekwensi, Elechi Amadi and few male writers were cited as male writers who badly presented the female folks in their narratives.

Identifying women’s hindrances to National development, in her presentation titled, Subliminal Texts: Women, proverbs and Power, Dr. Tonia Yakubu maintained that women are their worst oppressors. She identified the problem of marginalisation of women as a thing transported from folklore and proverbs which formed the integral part of human existence thus, encouraged wrong representations of women by mostly women.

While Dr Eno Ikpe’s Women in National Development, presented a historical expose of the origin of the Women’s Day celebration in addition to the impact of the Patriarchal system, colonial disabilities and indirect rule policies which all negatively affected the involvement of women in National development, Dr Mojisola Shodipe, in Women, Language and Politics in Nigeria, examined the problems created by most women’s inability to communicate in the Nation’s lingual franca.

Aside issues of male dominance in politics and gender discrimination, Dr Shodipe who advocated for the adoption of native tongues during campaigns, noted that the use of English language has been a major barrier to women’s active involvement in politics adding that women who are mobilisers by nature have been deliberately placed at the lowest echelon of offices and the political class by the implication of the overbearing influence of English language which makes the acceleration of their participation in politics impossible.