BLACK AFRICAN WOMEN IN COHABITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: THE DEPICTION OF FICTIONAL STORIES
BLACK AFRICAN WOMEN IN COHABITATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: THE DEPICTION OF FICTIONAL STORIES

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigated how African women in cohabitative relationships, defined asmarried and/or unmarried couples who live together and have sexual relationships, cope, as portrayed in the tenselected fictional short stories by black African women writers. The short stories were selected for the recurringthemes of women’s empowerment and disempowerment. The study used a qualitative approach by looking atviews related to black African women in cohabitative relationships as portrayed in literature. It was informed bythe black womanism, stiwanism, and the feminist theories. The sample was purposively selected by looking athow black African female authors in English of fictional short stories depict the experiences of black Africanwomen in cohabitative relationships. The experiences of black African women in cohabitative relationships,both positive and negative, may be traced back to the traditions of a specific society, and the attitudes and cultureof a specific society determine the way they cope with their experiences. The findings indicate that black Africanwomen’s unequal position in society means that they have less power, income, protection against violence, andless access to education and even ownership of land. Further findings revealed that black African women incohabitative relationships appeared to be victims most of the time and that they did not react to their fates, thus,were often depicted as passive and submissive. There are some elements of bias by black African women writers,as men are often portrayed in a negative light. Furthermore, black African female authors usually present andrepresent a certain segment of one side, resulting in imbalances of gender representation. African short storiesseem to provide a voice to voiceless women; however, it is likely that victims do not have access to the voicesthat present and represent them.

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