Oparah: Interview Assignment

From the Out… Looking In: An International Perspective

Feminism. As an apprentice to that which is the feminist movement, I have in these two and a half months, gained a surplus of knowledge on issues and ideologies associated with the feminist movement. Having taken a Women Studies course prior to this one, I’ve realized that the times that I learn the most (and truly get to the heart of women studies) are when I am able to experience and take part in the raising of our ‘consciousness’ or sharing of personal experiences. It is this reason why this assignment holds particular interest. After hearing what was required of this assignment, I immediately knew who I wanted to interview. Vivian Patricia Oparah. Yes, she is my mother and a native of Nigeria. Although she could be looked at as simply a convenience, I chose her due to the fact that I felt that her experience as an international feminist; her transition from Nigeria to the life of an American feminist could be crucial to the consciousness raising of both novice and veteran feminists. So, with interviewing Mrs. Oparah I hope to expose to you, my reader, a new and interesting perspective on the feminist ideology that will hopefully bring insight of the feminist movement as it occurred in Nigeria to other feminists.

I began the interview in the only way I saw fit, asking the question, “When I say the word, “feminist” what is the first thing that comes to mind?” I felt that asking this question would rightly set the tone for the duration of the interview and be the foundation as to how I would structure the remainder of my questions. Her reply was concise and truly not what I expected from my usually overly talkative mother. She replied with, “When you say ‘feminist’, the first thing that comes to my mind is that she/he is fighting for equality. She/he is struggling to gain female empowerment.” When answering the question, she made sure to emphasize the possibility for a male to be just as good as a feminist as a female. I quickly followed with another question that I intended it to reveal more of my mother’s views on feminism; where it’s been and where it’s going. After asking whether she felt that there was any particular stigma that was associated with the term ‘feminist’, she replied with, “I do believe that there is a somewhat negative air around the word. I feel that people in today’s society feel that women should be at home cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc.” She made a point in saying that, “I feel that the populace deem feminists as going ‘Overboard’ and are taking the feminist movement and push for equality ‘too far’”. Soon after hearing her response I began to think about the heavy backlash against the feminist movement and how throughout the years of the movement it has greatly influenced how the movement is perceived by others. It is this issue that Susan Faludi discusses in depth in her text, “Blame it on Feminism”.

“What is the definition of feminism…” Strangely, this next question that I asked of my mother was one that I debated on whether to ask it first or now but I felt that asking the question now would allow for more thought, so I did. My mother’s reply, did in fact, have much more depth this time around, telling that she believes that feminism is, “an obsessive individual fighting for their rights... I feel that these rights are the best thing that can happen to this person or her/his group. I believe that feminism is when someone protects womanhood and how she defines her being (whether it’s staying at-home or working in a large company). I also believe that it is a MUST that any particular feminist to have an organized ideology that underlines their beliefs.” After hearing this rather detailed and complex definition of feminism, I began to ponder and decipher the meaning of a couple sentences and words that she used to describe ‘her feminism’. One word that stuck out the most to me was her use of: obsessive to describe the individual. Usually when I encounter the word obsessive I immediately begin to associate it with something negative. When it was used in this context, I went back to how she discussed earlier that most people felt that the idea of the feminist movement was going ‘Overboard’, ‘taking it too far’, or rather ‘overly obsessing’. After taking a quick second to muddle over this issue, I felt it was due time to investigate her personal ties to the feminist movement.

My next question, although both blunt and cliché, seemed to get the most interesting of responses. I asked simply, whether or not she considered herself a feminist and was met with the following reply, “Yes, I would although, I would consider myself a passive feminist.” In describing her ‘passive feminism’, she described it as such, “I am not an active participant and so not presently contributing towards the push for equality. Yet, I can subscribe to the beliefs of the feminist movement. Let me also mention that although I recognize how women’s roles have been devalued and the struggle to regain equality in and out the home, I do feel as if women have a special role to play within their household and with their children.” After hearing the phrase ‘special role’ being used, I knew that I would have to get clarification on its meaning so I asked a series of questions to better understand the implications of this ‘special role’ of women. She told me that this role is female exclusive and includes the woman’s duty in nurturing; her children, society, and ultimately her nation. It wouldn’t be until later in the interview that I would understand how this strong belief of hers came to be… it wouldn’t be until later that I would understand how being born and raised in Nigeria had affected her feminist ideologies.

At this point in the interview, I felt it was due time to investigate the more International aspect of her feminism. My first question was posed in a way to get a feel of how she has experienced feminism in another country, “Having been born in Nigeria, do you feel that you or the country actively participates in the Feminist Movement?” She answered, saying that the country had definitely participated in the feminist movement on the same issues that were prevalent here in America (women’s suffrage, equality at work, equality at home, etc.). She continues to tell her story about how the fight for equal education between the sexes was probably the most notable, memorable, and most relevant to her. For an extremely long time in Nigerian history, women in every household were put in the background as far as education was concerned. Taking place in what is considered the second wave of feminism; women throughout Nigeria begin to push for equality in the workplace and in doing so, must also push for getting women educated. My mother discussed how her generation was the first to take that step into educating their women and interestingly how it was her father who truly pushed his daughters to get a higher education. It was during the years of the second wave in Nigeria that families began to realize that women were indeed being treated unfairly and unequally. Families in Nigeria began to realize that women not only had the capability of filling the role of ‘mother’ but also could excel politically, socially, economically, etc.

I was curious after this explanation as to whether or not there were actually laws present in the Nigerian government that created this sort of education subordination of women. So I posed to question whether there existed, in her years in Nigeria, laws that inhibited and barred women from certain opportunities but not men and the answer was, “No, there were no written laws.” Similar to American customs, there were of course traditional/unwritten laws that existed that placed women (and men) in their societal roles. She went into some detail about one of these traditional laws/practices and that was that men should be ‘trained’ while women are groomed to be married away. It was the idea that families shouldn’t ‘waste’ their money on females (who would soon be married away to another family) but instead they should invest their money into their sons and keep the ‘wealth’ in their families. Other than the educational inequality, Nigeria (much like America) had a suffrage movement of its own, which occurred in the late 1950s as Nigeria was fighting for its independence from Britain. Women like Margaret Aoekpo and Ransome Kuti who were at the forefront of the feminist movement in Nigeria were fighting fiercely for the women’s suffrage movement as well as educating females. After learning of this, my mother unexpectedly switched subjects and told me of her view of American feminism…

She began by stating that her view of African-American females in America was jarred after coming to America. She believed that upon arriving in America that the African-American female was more in the forefront of the black community than the African-American male. She felt that when coming to America, that this was more the case than in Nigeria. She stressed how she felt that women were better off, more successful and better educated in America more than in her home country. So, after interviewing my mother I’ve gain a deeper knowledge of feminism from an international perspective.