The African Woman's Struggle and Survival: An Analysis of Sefi Atta's Swallow

This study explores the frustrating journey of the African woman especially from the post-colonial era, bringing to light her survival quest in the patriarchal Africa and how the woman of colour is gradually developing a sense of awareness and endearing strength towards self-identity and empowerment. 

The African woman’s marginalization and subsequent empowerment in most African countries using Lagos, Nigeria as a case study. The composite factor is essential to understand the lived experiences of people in specific cultures within the postcolonial nation, for it acknowledges the importance of traditional resources but also the modern liberation tools available to the women. This study places Atta’s characters under study squarely in their cultural surroundings so that they are read in their social, economic, political, racial, ethnic, and religious contexts. Just as Abouzeid argued that progress in studying women must be centered on women’s social and political jurisdiction because it is there that women’s agency and oppression can be localized and contextualized. This study argues that the African woman has for long encountered severe alienation, endeared to survive in male chauvinistic society in the shape of Africa her own land before, during and even in the post-independence era. The growing feministic groups pushing harder in conscientising the African woman towards the realization of her true identity leading to a proper self-discovery that will serve as the catalyst to her empowerment, in fact, grounded on what it means to be a woman in a conservative African society with its cultural expressions and norms. This approach focuses on a very practical and empowering experience for women as it ties them even more closely to their communities, even as they advocate for more options than were previously available to them. Another purpose of this research is to explore the challenges and coping strategies of women working within male-dominated professions and environments. Women working in male-dominated professions and environments face experiences that are unique to their counterparts in more gender-balanced and female-dominated professions. The nature of these experiences affects women’s integration and potential success in male dominated professions. To enhance employment equity in historically male-dominated professions and environments, an understanding of women’s experiences in such environments is beneficial.