Women's quest for freedom, recognition and empowerment in Ngozi Chuma-Ude's <I>Echoes of a New Dawn</I>

Abstract

This paper centers on women empowerment as an effective strategy to ward off intimidation and subjugation by patriarchy and patriarchal structures that have been put in place by men. Empowerment is expected to improve access to good education, opportunities to acquire skills through training and retraining, access to health and most importantly, the freedom to pursue personal development. It appears that women empowerment is not receiving the critical attention it should from all the stakeholders. This work interrogates women empowerment from the angle of self development and the need for women to take their fate in their hands and strive to dismantle oppressive patriarchal structures in their strive for a better society. Using Ngozi Chuma-Ude's Echoes Of A New Dawn, this paper therefore examines the need for women to empower themselves in Igbo communities as a move towards socio-economic liberation. Using content analysis approach of the qualitative research method, this paper critically examines an alternative means of women empowerment which includes education and self assertion amongst others. The paper uses African feminist theories to arrive at the conclusion that African society has not done much to arouse the hopes of women and that the gender biased philosophy and male dominated social structures that still exist in many African communities can be quashed and suppressed by very few radical and strong-willed women. The work finds out that women possess the ability for self assertion and self empowerment.