What Is The Difference Between Abina And The Important Men

Abina and the Important Men uncovers the story of a young girl’s journey through years of enslavement at the hands of various men and her plea for justice. West African women in the nineteenth century faced a multitude of challenges including slavery, forced marriage, assault, and silencing. Unfortunately, their stories were rarely recorded, and if they were, they were seldom shared or believed. Patriarchal societies, such as the one Abina encountered, perpetuate the systemic oppression of women not only by white men, but by men of color and women themselves. Captured and sold into slavery as a young girl, Abina was forced to perform domestic labor and her masters often beat her. After Yaw Awoah “married” (purchased) her, she was still required

Even though Africans had been enslaved by Europeans for centuries, elite African men also allowed domestic slavery because it meant they would gain more power as well. Moreover, some African women participated in the oppression of other enslaved African women. They knew they had less power than the elite men around them, so many were almost forced to participate in order to keep themselves safe. For example, Abina lived in Eddoo’s sister, Eccoah’s house. Although Eccoah was also an African woman, she did not treat Abina fairly, often letting Abina only eat a few scraps of food despite the fact that Abina cooked for all of them. Despite this, it is hard to fully blame Eccoah because she was following her brother’s orders so she could secure her own safety. In a patriarchal society, many women feel that they must oppress other women to avoid being oppressed themselves. The power imbalance between men and women forces women to compete with each other for power instead of recognizing the common factor between them (their sex) and helping each other. When women internalize the idea that they are inferior to men, they may project that misogyny onto other women as I believe Eccoah did to Abina. Eccoah’s belief that she is somehow worse than an African man like her brother likely explains her hatred towards

The patriarchal society of West Africa during the late nineteenth century led to an alliance between British and African men who sought to oppress women in order to gain more power for themselves, believing that men were ultimately superior leaders than women. Even when some women like Abina found the courage to defend themselves, their voices were rarely believed. In Abina’s case, a jury of elite men were assigned to help decide her master’s fate rather than assigning a diverse group that contained women, too. Not including any women in the jury points to the bias of elite men only trusting other elite men. Davis even stated that to be on the jury, “above all, you must be a man.” Therefore, Abina’s opinion and voice as a woman never really mattered despite Melton’s moral opposition to slavery. Even today we see similar stories of powerful, rich, and usually white men infringing on women’s autonomy, whether this relates to anti-abortion laws or laws allowing child marriage. Despite what seems like advances in gender equality, women are still vastly underrepresented in the United States government even though they vote at higher rates than men. Women of color, transgender women, and women with any other intersecting identity suffer even more from underrepresentation and discrimination. Abina’s story stresses the critical importance of uplifting all women’s