Society is unarguably male-oriented with women given little or no chance to contribute to its development. Women are generally considered weaker vessels, and labelled by society as incapable of structural reasoning. Thus, this paper turns its critical lens to literature for answers to this seemingly wrong attitudinal branding of women. Consequently, the objectives of this paper are to explore the dynamic ways in which women have contributed to the socio-economic status of their husbands using John Pepper-Clark’s play The Wives’ Revolt as a literary platform. In addition, it will also examine the cultural question of whether the last definitive act of the revolt by the women in JP Clark’s play was plausible. The next objective is to explore the contribution of one of the wives of chief Olowookere in reviving his ailing business empire. Lastly, this paper will also examine how both playwrights portray the fact that society thrives socio-economically only if a synergy exist between both genders.
To achieve these objectives, this paper shall be driven by Marxist Socialist Feminism Theory. From both texts selected for this analysis, it is clear that men cannot do without the women in society. Both playwrights posit in their plays that there is need for mutual relationship for both genders to succeed socio-economically. Thus, this theory argues that patriarchy is not the only cause of oppression of women, rather their total financial dependence of men. The Marxist Socialist feminists see the economic dependence as the driving force of women’s subjugation to men. In this hilarious piece, Clark pitches the wives led by Koko against husbands in a communal dispute over the sharing of a compensation fee paid by an oil company. The consequences, though unexpected by the men, are as devastating to society as the damage done by the oil company. The men were forced to admit that they cannot do without women in society, particularly when they had to contend with menial domestic chores as lighting fire and attending to a crying baby.
In Ahmed Yerima The Wives, chief Olowookere had three wives, Angela, Cecelia and Tobi, the youngest wife but unfortunately died in the arms of the youngest wife Tobi. One of wives was particularly responsible for reviving chief’s ailing business empire. This paper explores the dynamic roles the women in Clark’s The Wives’ Revolt and Yerima’s The Wives play as socio-economic builders.