The Effects of an Unplanned Pregnancy in the Post-Independence Shona Novel: “De-Womanisation” or Women’s Empowerment?

Abstract

Summary This article foregrounds the theme of unplanned pregnancy in Sharai Mukono-weshuro’s novel Ndakagara ndazviona (1991) and Mabasa’s novel Ndafa here? (2008). The article scrutinises the two novelists’ treatment of the girl child character when she becomes a victim of an unplanned pregnancy. This is a qualitative, critical literary study that adopts the tenets of Africana womanism theory to argue its case. It uses those tenets to discuss two forms of data. There is data gathered from the two novels and data collected during a discussion with two legal practitioners from an organization that deals with women empowerment issues on the matter under study. In the process, the article establishes and debates strategies the two novelists employ to empower their female characters so that they progress to success in life the very moment they become victims of unplanned pregnancies. It concludes that, since the strategies which the novelists advocate and lobby for are not informed by Africana womanism as an action plan for empowering African women, they fail to empower the victims of unplanned pregnancies. Thus, ultimately, the two novelists “de-womanise” and dehumanise victims of the unplanned pregnancy. That being the case, this study recommends that, novelists need not ‘de-womanise’, dehumanise and disempower their female characters, who become victims of unplanned pregnancies. Rather, they need to struggle to empower them to triumph in life. In that way, they will teach their society that the life of a girl child does not degenerate and become worse than futile the moment she becomes a victim of an unplanned pregnancy.