CLASS DIFFERENCES AND EXPLOITATION IN FEMI OSOFISAN’S WOMEN OF OWU AND NO MORE THE WASTED BREEDS

ABSTRACT

There is no doubt that Femi Osofisan is a masses oriented playwright and this well illustrated in Women of Owu and No More the Wasted Breed. These plays show that people’s positions and classes give them the power to subdue, dominate and exploit those they consider helpless. In Women of Owu, women are treated with disdain by men who see the as cows that are meant to be milked. They are subjected to slavery which is the core of exploitation in society. For instance, they are sexually exploited by soldiers who invaded their village. This is not uncommon during war but it is definitely evil. The soldiers go further to share the women as war spoils and consequently push them into slavery. This experience makes the women through psychological pains. They are plunged into woes that make them worthless that is less human. It is discovered in this essay that the social power that goes with the class of men gives men the opportunity to exploit women.