Ifi Amadiume has written a book where she approaches many themes surrounding African women throughout the times before, after, and during the colonial times. She checks how the gender roles have evolved, and analyzes the information she gathers, and in the book, all the facts are placed on the table.
Ifi went into her research with the belief that the colonists had helped the women of Africa become stronger and more independent, though when she started getting her answers back, she got shocked. The truth was that the colonists had belittled the free and strong independent women of Africa, and made them less worth than the men. This showed the reader that we must not always trust what we have heard or are led to believe; when taken to the source, things might be very different from what they seem.
The reader is also led through several studies on religion during the different time periods that Ifi studies. There was a clear parallel line between the women’s roles, the societies hierarchy and the religion. During the pre-colonial times, African countries had several gods with several different sexes, which put the sexes on equal ground in the society. When Christianity came, it only had one male god. That god was above all others, which also made the man above the woman. It might seem tat Ifi is trying to show the reader that a person can believe herself/himself into power, through choosing to believe in things that empowers.
