Analysis of Gender Inequality in “Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Theme of gender inequality is explored by many authors in African literature portraying the African patriarchal societies during and after independence; but Dangarembga surpassed all her counterparts in her vivid depiction of this inequality that affected the societies in her master-piece novel Nervous Condition. The setting is placed in colonial Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the 1960s and 1970s. Although the novel literary centers around Nyasha and Tambu who are cousins leading different lives in their teenage, superficially, it highlights the issue of gender inequalities in the patriarchal society where women were neglected, while men had the power to influence their lives. This novel further depicts the inequalities enhanced by imperial government and by the perpetuation of colonialism via gender dominance and class division. The theme of gender inequalities in this novel is unfolded through the unique characterization and more so the author’s personal experience in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe.

Dangarembga presents a cliché of women who stand up against the internal societal struggles to break the yoke of patriarchal dominance that perpetuated imposing gender inequality. The road to solving this gender inequality is a bumpy ride and acceptance in the strict patriarchal society ensures the characters pass through severe stress and rejection but ultimately there is light at the end of the tunnel as the society is gradually accosted by unstoppable force for change through determination against the odds. Women characters sojourn against the currents opposing their equality and gently in their cocoons of brooding strive to be accepted. Tambu the main protagonist is raised in poor family where the paternal uncle is well-up and had taken upon his obligation to educate his brother Nhamo. Gender inequality is depicted as Tambu is not entitled to be educated because the culture constructs the young women as objects only confined into household chores and later to be married off. Her dreams of education come true only when her brother Nhamo dies which is why she is not touched emotionally by his death, but sees it as a blessing in disguise since she has no other brothers she would be educated.

Gender inequality is also brought out in realities encountered by Nyasha, a teenage girl who spent her influential years in England when her parents were on scholarship education. Upon return in Africa, the ugly truths in the vast cultural differences between Africa and Europe especially where women are concerned dawns before Nyasha. Dangarembga portrays the plight of African woman through the eyes of Tambu and Nyasha in a dominating culture of patriarchy. The woman freedom is curtailed, and Nyasha has despite her efforts to study hard, her lateness to be home comes in question by her parents who have experienced different cultures.

            Interdependence is another factor that has created or perhaps is to blame for the gender inequality in the patriarchal society. Dangarembga presents a situation in which the women are entrapped economically and thus have to depend on men to survive. Tambu’s mother is among the entrapped, bound by straps of social stratification and culture as a result of colonialism and so is Aunt Maiguru who depends on Babamukuru for money. Tambu’s mother has to depend on her farm and husband which point to her poverty. She only sees her son as the only hope to break her vicious cycles of poverty. As per the society’s stereotype constructs Tambu’s mother does not believe Tambu’s education would help that much. Even the educated women like Maiguru are entrapped due to the inequalities of gender. Maiguru does not have the status of her education as she is subjected to demands of men in her community and those of her husband, ingrained in the culture. The strive to break interdependence is the right way of women ending the gender inequality. So far in the novel Tambu, Nyasha, Lucia and later Maiguru are on the path to break the chains of demeaning culture and uplift the place of woman in the male-dominated society.

            To sum up, insights in gender inequalities are highlighted by Dangarembga and what emerges very clearly is that the cultural stereotype constructs are to blame for the injustices on girls and women in contemporary society. Dangarembga succeeds in bringing out the theme of gender inequality through her vivid plot development and characterization in colonial and patriarchy setting. It is therefore doubtless that women in Africa and also around the world should not only liberate themselves from cultural entrapment but also systems that tend to dwarf their equality.