Marxist Humanism and Gender Equity in Ngugi WA Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood and Osi Ogbu’s The Moon Also Sets

The purpose of this paper is to explore Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s and Osi Ogbu’s stance on gender. Against the backdrop of patriarchy in both Western and African societies, there has been an intense debate with regards to resolving gender inequality without reaching consensus since most of the existing feminist views have proved controversial and divisive. This paper is a continuation of this debate and specifically focuses on two African male postcolonial feminist artists whose humanist and afroeuropean approaches seem to tackle more wholesomely the issue of social justice and equity in their selected fiction. These approaches embrace co-operation and complementarity between men and women. Apart from gender inequality, the paper is cognizant of the fact that postcolonies grapple with hegemonic capitalism and its resultant exploitation and social oppression. To attain social emancipation, Ngugi and Osi, envision alternative agents in their fictional universes into which the present paper seeks to delve. The humanist element contained in African feminism addressed patriarchy whereas Marxist feminist postulations addressed capitalistic hegemonies. The literature review focused on the works of authors and literary critics who have analyzed works on gender and capitalism. This paper concludes that men and women can have a peaceful co-existence. Secondly African humanist approaches to gender are viable in resolving social and gender conflicts. Finally, men and women should be treated equitably because people are endowed with different potentials which are not dependent on sex.