Feminism
Ifi Amadiume approached not only the theme of feminism, but also the theme of a woman’s role in the family and the society. She studies how it has evolved, discussing what it was and what it has become. She also tried to learn what a woman’s role truly should be, looking at both the good and the bad from both the times. She realized that if the colonization never happened, Africa wouldn’t need the help of western feminists to free their women, because they were already free pre-colonization, which was contrary to everyone’s belief.
Colonization
Through her research on colonization, Ifi found that when colorizations brought their religion and ideologies on the African society, the women were pushed away and under the radar. Now, instead of being strong independent women, they had to fit into the boxes of the foreigners’ religion and were taken away their rights and freedom. She understood that colonists had not only brought the new and good, but also the sad and ugly parts of their society.
Religion
Ifi also realized how important religion was when forming a society. In the pre-colonial times, they had both goddesses and gods. That meant that the gods were not tied to any gender, which made they sexes equal. Females could rise to the top, using their own cleverness which was quite similar to the business world we see today. Both during the colonial times and after the colonial times, the indigenous gender roles were condemned as pagan, and because they are against Christian morality, looked down upon. Therefore, women are till this day having trouble rising to the top, because of religion alone.
