Molara Ogundipe

Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie (27 December 1940 – 18 June 2019), also known as Molara Ogundipe, was a Nigerian poet, critic, editor, feminist and activist. Considered one of the foremost writers on African feminism, gender studies and literary theory, she was a social critic who came to be recognized as a viable authority on African women among black feminists and feminists in general.

Quotes

• The oppression of women, economic or personal, is not solely a White-Black Race confrontation although the oppression of Black Women is deeply tied to the variable of race in the history of imperialism.
  • Speaking at Women In Nigeria, WIN, Conference at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria (8 July 2019)

• The liberation of women is conceived as the desire of women to reduce men to housekeepers. Since most men despise manual work for feudal and middle class reasons, women’s liberation is feared as an effort by women to ‘feminise’ men, that is, degrade them.
  • One of the main challenges of women emancipation

• What we want in Africa is social transformation. It is not about warring with men, the reversal of role, or doing to men whatever women think that men have been doing for centuries, but it is trying to build a harmonious society.
  • Condensing her ideas in an hypothesis called STIWA (2019)

• The transformation of African society is the responsibility of both men and women and it is also in their interest.
  • Society transformation