PhD defence Elizabeth Omoruyi: Breaking Chains of Oppression in Nigerian Women’s Writing

On Friday 7 February, Elizabeth Omoruyi will defend her PhD dissertation ‘Women Oppressing Women: An Intersectional Reading of Women Authors in Nigeria’. In this dissertation, Omoruyi examines discrimination and oppression among women in selected texts of three Nigerian female writers: Zulu Sofola, Buchi Emecheta and Bunmi Julius-Adeoye. She used the texts to reflect on oppression in the texts and how it manifests in real life.
Discrimination and oppression
Omoruyi discusses how women sometimes oppress their fellow women. For her research, she uses intersectionality, a framework that helps to examine how different social and political identities result in unique experiences of discrimination and privilege. She reveals that women can oppress other women based on categories like age/generation, social class/status, educational achievement, ethnicity, and ‘race’.
By examining selected fiction and non-fiction works that reflect current realities, Omoruyi highlights common issues found in different areas of Nigeria. For example, she notes how parents invest in the education of male children over female children, as it is a common understanding that women have little need for western education.
Engendering patriarchy
A common occurrence in the analysed texts is that while some female characters exist to oppress other women and girls, others are placed in positions to support downtrodden women. This intensifies the fact that growth can only occur when women uplift one another, Omoruyi argues.
When examining women’s oppression, researchers often overlook the role women play in discriminating against and oppressing fellow women. These women are further engendering patriarchy, Omoruyi concludes, which in turn negates women’s fight against gender inequality.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- Hybrid: online (click here) and at the Utrecht University Hall
- PhD candidate
- E.A. Omoruyi
- Dissertation
- Women Oppressing Women: An Intersectional Reading of Women Authors in Nigeria
- PhD supervisor(s)
- Professor S. Ponzanesi
- Professor E. Van Alphen