Two great examples of 'women's fiction' show the need to level up literature

...as well as society

Photo by Lona on Unsplash

I recently read two novels that made me think about womanhood as a story, if not womanhood itself in deeper terms than before.

Both books are set in Africa.

Both have received a fair amount of attention, mostly of the flattering sort.

Both pull at the heartstrings and twist one’s emotions in unexpected ways.

The fact that there is no such category as “men’s fiction” suggests that what men write or read is the norm

‘The Joys of Motherhood’, by the late Buchi Emecheta, was published in 1979.

‘Nervous Conditions’, by Tsitsi Dangarembga, was published in 1988.

Both novels are focussed on sexual discrimination and gender inequality, the enormous burdens imposed on girls and women by the weight of societal structures and the stark reality that those constructs don’t just support such inequity but depend on it.

Both novels belong to the early era of modern women’s fiction, to use the term that focusses on women’s life experience rather than books that are merely written by w…