Gender and Insecurity: An Examination of Nawal El-Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah

Abstract

Every society has, over the years, experienced or is experiencing one form of onslaught or another. This, no doubt, has shaped not only the way writers perceive issues but also the way they treat them. The 21st century is, therefore, characterised by a myriad of social issues militating against its development. Simply put, the 21st century is embroiled in a lot of issues that have become a clog in the wheel of progress. This paper, in attempting to examine these issues, contemplates gender issues and insecurity as characteristic of the 21st century. Accordingly, it seeks to examine the gender issues from the angle of the girl child, whose neglect has not only exposed her to untold hardship but also made her susceptible to wide-ranging abuses. The paper assumes a position that the most unsecured person in the 21st century is the girl child. To advance this claim, the paper will draw from an array of literary texts with particular emphasis on Nawal El-Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero (2007) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013).