Intra-Female Gender Inclusiveness versus Exclusiveness: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Madams and Maids Intercourse

Abstract

Studies on women issues have dwelt so much on inclusiveness of women in socio-political, socio-economic and socio cultural  life  of  every nation as against the marginalizing,  dominating and subordinating  structures in most societies that hinders  women from equal rights and privileges as full human beings. The invaluable contributions of women to nation building today is a great dividend of the giants of women emancipation. Nevertheless, the marginalizing, dominating and subordinating structures that constituted the bane to women development tend to be existent among the female folk. The data for this study are excerpts from a Nigerian home video titled World Apart. Using the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis, the study sets out to highlight from the home video, the experiences of Nigerian maids in the hands of their madams. The findings of the study show that madams' language use depict acts of exclusion of the maids from the rights and privileges that can accrue to every women. This results in the notion of in-group and out-group women as a result of the differences in their social location. Portrayed in the choice of derogatory and dehumanizing languages employed in the Queen's discourses are evidences to the fact that maids are removed from the realities of womanhood as fought for by feminism and its African equivalent, womanism. This also buttresses the issue of power asymmetry between women which project some women as less than humans or second class citizens in the hands of their fellow women. The study recommends that madams recognize maids as women and create opportunities to develop and empower them so that they can take their rightful place in the society.