New Perspectives on Women and Community Empowerment in Zaynab Alkali's The Descendants and The Initiates

Modern fiction in its attempt to address the woman question is re-focusingattention rather than on simply continuing to bemoan women’s subjection insociety to actually, depicting them as striving actively, to overcome suchsubjection. The raging crusades are all aimed at women’s emancipation andhave helped in bringing about the emergence of the new woman in controlnot only of her situation and destiny, but also of the opportunities hithertodenied her, for self-fulfillment. In this regards, this paper examines ZaynabAlkali’s portrayal of women as vibrant crusaders in bringing about tangibledevelopments in their immediate environments. With insights into thedevelopment of female characters in two of her most recent works, TheDescendants and The Initiates, this paper hopes to highlight Alkali’s newgeneration woman who is ready to offer her services thereby, re-defining theold roles played by women in Nigerian Literature