WOMEN AND GENDER RELATIONS IN ASARE KONADU’S A WOMAN IN HER PRIME AND BAYO ADEBOWALE’S LONELY DAYS

Abstract

Writing plays an important role in the confrontation of gender issue in the society. Asare Konadu’s A Woman in Her Prime and Bayo Adebowale’s Lonely Days reveals dilemma of female gender in the society. This paper therefore interrogates the interface of gender relation with women as depicted in the selected African novels.  It also explores the portrayal of women and their experiences in the various societies where the novels are set. This article explains the factors behind female oppression which serves as backbone for the patriarchal system and enthrones the continuous suppression of the female specie, most especially widows. The study concludes that culture is a suppression tool in a patriarchal system and recommends that African culture must begin to see the female gender as a partner in progress and therefore give them back their place in African cultural system.