writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

Nigeria whom he hardly knows without remorse. The difficulties, hardship, rivalry among
co‐wives, ill health etc which Lami experienced in her matrimonial home made her convince her
sister Fatima not
to allow anyone force her into an arranged marriage like hers. When Lami died during childbirth the
father again gave out six years old Fatima’s hand in marriage to the same Islamic scholar without a
second thought. With no way out of her predicament, Fatima ran away on the eve of the wedding.
Coincidentally she was picked up by a voluntary health worker Hajiya Zubaida who had earlier
begged Fatima’s father to allow her educate Fatima in the city. Hajiya Zubaida took her in as a foster
daughter. Her life in the city and change of scene made Fatima develop into a better person because
she was enrolled into formal education, where she excelled through elementary school, college and
university.
Aware of her son Bashir’s sinister and unholy advances at Fatima, Hajiya Zubaida insisted he
marries her. This he did against his wish. Fatima enjoyed the protection of matrimony for some time
until fate stuck once again and Hajiya Zubaida died. Bashir on his part saw this as a way out of what
he called a loveless and forced marriage. He married a new wife and consequently divorced Fatima.
Fatima escaped narrowly the antics and escapades of Bashir and his lawyer friend and moved in with
Hajiya Hassana, Zubaida’s partner in voluntary work. In her search for a better life, Fatima later got
married to an emir who had been childless for almost twenty years. When she gave birth to a
daughter instead of an heir to the throne, she was accused of adultery by her husband and
sentenced to death. Her escape to the city with her daughter Amina only caused her more trauma
and hardship in the hands of men. Fatima documented her life story before her painful death where
she instructed her daughter Amina to reject and resist any form of cultural or traditional subjugation
against women; and to venture into the world and find out if really there is a place where women are
treated as human beings. Amina struggled despite obstacles to acquire qualitative education and
rose to become an advocate of women empowerment. She succeeded in achieving relevance and
importance for women in the society, by not only building the economy or reforming the society but
also excelling in politics which used to be a no go field for women. Amina later brought her father,
the emir who had rejected her and all other men who had maltreated her mother and other women
to submission.
Discussions:
In Mace Mutum Abdulmajid examines the place of women both in traditional and contemporary
settings and the different treatments meted out on them by men as their fathers, husbands, brothers
or son; as well as the limits imposed upon them by societal, cultural and traditional restrictions. The
happenings depict the situation of women in the society under discourse. Even though women try to
free themselves from traditional and social dogmas;
Women slave and labor for seventeen hours, ….doing house hold chores. This does not
in any way attest to the fact that women are over populated or cheap to get. Eight out of
every ten girls in village get married before the age of fourteen; while, five out of these
ten girls have complications during childbirth and most often die by the time they are
about fifteen years of age before medical help arrives. 6
Women as wives suffer rather than enjoy the fruits of their labour and they are denied any right
to question the actions of their husbands. They are separated from their children against their wish;
while the boys are sent to far away town and handed over to Islamic scholars at very tender age, the
girls are married off to unknown suitors at the tender age of six. They are kept in subjection, in
hopeless and helpless situations often without education because of cultural practices and religious
beliefs.
One of the most persistent forms of subjugation discussed by Abdulmajid is the one found in the
marriage institution. The husband is usually chosen by the father and neither the girl nor her mother
is consulted or has the right to reject the father’s decision. Fatima’s father gave his daughter Lami’s
hand in marriage to a visiting Islamic cleric just because at the age of fourteen she was yet to get a
suitor from the village; no one dared questioned his actions and when he came into the house he
broke the news to his wives thus; “I have given Lami’s hand in marriage to a visitor cleric and luckily
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