Abstract

Gender theorizing in modern African literature is, unarguably, premised on non-African modernization praxis that helps to sustain western hegemonic prejudice. Although the mega-status of western feminist model has positioned its critics in vantage position to advance their treatise as a fait accompli, the peculiarities of African cosmos have made their polemics redundant, particularly for a value-conscious African mind. Therefore, adopting an endogenous theoretical framework for an interpretive reading of Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, this study undermines the stereotypical depiction of gender-related imbalances in the Yoruba socio-cultural milieu as allegedly sanctioned by the patriarchal Yoruba world order. While foreclosing recourse to “alien” theoretical model for the interpretation of a largely patriarchal yet accommodating Yoruba cosmos, it argues that the Yoruba worldview possesses an in-built theoretical assumption to redress gender imbalance, thus foregrounding the articulation of the quintessential Yoruba epistemic model for global use. It, nonetheless, submits that only a sustained investigation of the Yoruba worldview can reveal a credible indigenous theory to address gender imbalance in Yoruba society.