Can ' t a Girl Have it All? Interrogating Gender Paradigms in Ama Ata Aidoo ' s The Girl Who Can and Other Stories

Abstract

This article seeks to explore Ama Ata Aidoo ' s (2002) work for the purpose of interrogating how African feminists and/or women writers represent challenges facing African women, as well as suggested or implied solutions to their problems. The analysis interprets the stories ' Lice ' , ' Comparisons ' , ' The Girl Who Can ' , and ' Heavy Moments ' in an attempt to identify elements of women ' s oppression under patriarchy rule, and to what extent women can challenge that system. Although some female characters in these stories have proved to challenge the system and subverted men ' s hierarchy, the underlying implications as to what a woman ought to do to overcome the oppression leaves a lot to be desired. The article attempts to disentangle Aidoo's narratives, and in the process of disentangling it demonstrates newly established feminist constructs that ought to be subverted.