GENDER AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN AMMA DARKO’S FACELESS AND CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS

The study focuses on the themes of gender and sexual exploitation in the novels Faceless by Amma Darko and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, it analyzes the representation of the themes from both the novels and how it mirrors the socio-cultural, economic and political realities of the African societies. This research utilizes qualitative methodology, based on secondary data to comprehend the indoctrination of women repression in the texts mentioned. In Faceless, Darko shows the exploitation of young girls like Fofo and the effects of poverty and loss, while Purple Hibiscus’s Kambili suffers under the emotional and psychological repression of her father, Eugene, whose authoritarian approach does more than govern; it smothers. The study found that the combination of gender and socio-economic class were particularly significant in heightening exposure to exploitation and oppression. The analysis also reveals the significance of resistance, solidarity, and female agency in the narratives, as both protagonists resist their exploitation, displaying strength and personal development through female solidarity. This study highlights the role literature plays in social criticism; it provides an in-depth perspective of the socio-cultural processes that normalize such behavior in relation to women and solidifies its social significance as a mechanism laying the foundations for domestic violence. The study provides a necessary analytical lens to read and understand feminine emancipation in African women, demonstrating how both authors disrupt perennial masculine narratives of sexism. The final section of the study suggests further research will be needed to review gender and other exploitative factors across different African contexts, the effect of education in reducing gender-based violence, and intersectional influences entailed by the digitisation of African societies. This study adds towards the existing discourse of gender inequality in African literature as well as evidences literary works_ potential for social change and advocacy in fighting for women_ rights and empowerment