ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS AND AMERICANAH

Author: Dr Philomene Bontambo Nselofona

ABSTRACT

This article examines the interplay between economic and environmental factors as determinants of women’s empowerment in two seminal works by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Americanah (2013). Drawing on African feminist theory and reformist feminist approaches, this study employs qualitative textual analysis to investigate how socio-economic conditions and environmental contexts—familial, cultural, religious, and migratory—shape female characters’ trajectories toward self-determination. The analysis reveals that economic dependency and patriarchal environmental structures constitute primary barriers to women’s empowerment, while education, financial autonomy, and supportive social networks emerge as critical enablers. The article demonstrates that Adichie’s female protagonists navigate complex terrains of oppression and opportunity, ultimately asserting agency through strategic resistance, educational pursuit, and economic independence. The findings contribute to postcolonial feminist discourse by illustrating how environmental contexts mediate women’s access to power and how economic factors intersect with cultural norms to either constrain or facilitate empowerment. This study proposes that sustainable women’s empowerment requires simultaneous transformation of both economic structures and socio-cultural environments.

Keywords: Women’s Empowerment, Economic Factors, Environmental Challenges, African Feminism, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Postcolonial Literature, Patriarchy, Migration.

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