Being a woman can seem to involve being gentle and nurturing, being feminine in other words. On the other hand being a man can seem to involve being strong and active. This means being masculine. A feminist writer tries to represent women in a positive way. A feminist is a person who believes in the principle that women should have the same rights and opportinities as men.
Bessie Head was a feminist because most of her works show that she felt there was an injustice done to women especially by men. She was against any form of discrimination. She was against tribalism, racism, servitude and feminism - these ideas seemed to be dominant in most of her works. Head used positive images of female qualities to raise women's self esteem and lend authority to their political demands.
Head felt that women were as good as men even if the society thought women were inferior. Her literature works seemed to say, "If a woman can cook and fetch water, why would a man not do the same?" "If it is right for a man to drink beer, have multiple lovers and go away without his wife's permission, why should it be a crime when the same things were done by a woman?" This seemed to be the main theme of her works. This shows that she felt that the inequality between the sexes should be ended.
The examples to support our argument include "A Collector of Treasures." Garesego abused his wife because he was brought up in a society which supported dominance of men over women. He thought and behaved as God to Dikeledi. He could come and go as he pleased. This is an example of a typical Motswana man who believes his wife is a property to be used. Garesego is not a man but only a phallic symbol because when he finally came home he only wanted to have sexual intercourse with Dikeledi. Dikeledi killed him because she felt bitter and humiliated. This shows that women have feelings just as men do too. Men and women are equal in Head's view.
In When Rain Clouds Gather Head tried to show us the injustice done to women by the society. Women were not supposed to utter a word in a meeting of both men and women. When Makhaya addressed them as his equals the women were amazed because it was unheard of (102). Mma Millipede is represented as a strong person who helped younger people to lead better lives. She helped Makhaya to have faith and live a new life. This positive image of females shows us that Head wanted women to be courageous and helpful.
In "Despite Broken Bondage, Botswana Women are Still Unloved" (published in A Woman Alone), Head shows us that men are abusive to women and do not care about them. They are interested in women only as casual sex partners.
We conducted oral interviews with Skobinol Lekhutlile, director of the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe, who knew Head; Howard Head, her only son; and Dr L. Molema from the English Department of the University of Botswana. Mr Lekhutlile believes that Head was not a feminist because she did not go around talking about women's rights. She was against any inequality whatsoever. According to Howard Head, his mother was a feminist because she tried to speak for women through her writing. She was trying to appeal to men to stop treating women as inferior. He says she was a feminist but during their time it was unheard of for a woman to voice her views. Dr L. Molema says "Her concerns are larger than feminism, her scope is much larger than feminism, she cared about many issues like ethnic and social inequality."
To sum it up we believe that Head was a feminist. Her works show that and the interviewees support it. The only thing which makes other people think that she was not a feminist is that she did not go around making or organising women's movement clubs. She did not make noise but said it all in writing.
References
Copyright © 2003 the authors.
Last updated 16 January 2004