La conflictividad de la ideología feminista en la cultura fang: una aproximación al estudio del patriarcado en Guinea Ecuatorial

The conflict of feminist ideology in the Fang culture: an approach to the study of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea

Pedro Bayeme Bituga-Nchama

Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, Bata, Litoral

pedrobayem@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2310-5879

(Received on: 10/12/2019; Accepted on: 15/12/2019; Final version received on: 07/01/2020)

Suggested citation: Bituga-Nchama, P. (2020). The conflict of feminist ideology in the Fang culture: an approach to the study of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea. Revista Cátedra, 3(1), 15-26.

Resumen

El presente artículo tiene el propósito de evidenciar la conflictividad que hay entre la ideología feminista y la cultura Fang de Guinea Ecuatorial. Este estudio es importante porque pone de manifiesto la razón por la que se dificulta el arraigo del feminismo como ideología dentro de la cultura mencionada ut supra. El feminismo es una ideología universal que tiene el propósito de acabar con el patriarcado. Teniendo presente esta realidad, en la cultura Fang existe una aversión al feminismo porque se concibe como una amenaza al orden establecido por el sistema patriarcal que ha oprimido durante largos años a la mujer Fang. Hay que admitir que hoy en día las cosas empiezan a cambiar porque existe una toma de conciencia de parte de las mujeres que cuestiona todo lo que se ha dicho que era normal para la mujer. La solución que se propone para evitar la sumisión de la mujer Fang, es que esta se debe educar en igualdad de términos. Los principales resultados de este estudio muestran que es necesario el feminismo para que la mujer Fang pueda darse cuenta que también es persona y merece ser tratada como tal, sin discriminación ni estigmatizaciones sociales. En relación a las consecuencias de esta solución hay que señalar que, si se educa tanto al hombre como a la mujer en igualdad, se construiría una sociedad más equitativa que no rechace la ideología feminista por considerarla perjudicial para la mujer Fang.

Palabras clave

Cultura, feminismo, ideología, patriarcado, subordinación.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the conflict between the feminist ideology and the culture of one of the various ethnic groups of Equatorial Guinea. This study is important because it highlights the many difficulties that feminist ideology has in that country. With this reality in mind, there is an aversion to feminism because it is conceived as a threat to the order established by the patriarchal system that has oppressed women for many years. Today things are starting to change because there is an awareness by women who question everything that has been said and that was normal to them. The solution proposed is that in order to avoid the submission of the Fang woman, she has to be educated in equality. The main results of this study show that feminism is necessary for the Fang woman to realize that she is also a person and deserves to be treated as such, without discrimination or stigmatization. In relation to the consequences of this solution, it should be noted that if both men and women are educated in equality, a more equitable society that does not reject feminist ideology would be built because it is considered harmful to Fang women.

Keywords

Culture, feminism, ideology, patriarchy, subordination

1. Introduction

This article aims to explain why there is a rejection of feminist ideology in the above- mentioned ethnicity. This rejection causes the word feminism to become a problem, because it would prevent women from mobilizing to end the patriarchal system, where women have to carry a cultural weight that many sometimes cannot even stand. While there is no national literature addressing this issue, it should be noted that this study is developed through the observation of the Fang woman in her cultural context. In the absence of rigorous studies on feminism in Equatorial Guinea, research has had to be investigated on the basis of direct observation. In this sense, it must be mentioned that the Fang woman is a victim of the patriarchy that exercises on her a series of cultural duties or traditions such as imposed polygamy, levirate, as well as other series of rites that only legitimize the oppression and undervaluation of woman.

The problem observed is that men are trying to reorganize to stop or combat the feminist ideology that women are embracing and avoid ingesting their status as selfless and submissive to men. In Fang-Bantú culture, the role of women has been created under a system of male domination known as patriarchy. Discrimination against women has a patriarchal basis, which serves to systematically oppress women. That statement is based on the fact that in this culture man is put as a measure of all things, that means that men have the power to rule over women and become their owner. It is therefore clear that this is a macho culture where women are discriminated against because of their sex and therefore it is a status quo in which they are undervalued.

Fang patriarchy represents the opposite of feminism, because feminism advocates emancipation and equality, and patriarchy advocates for the systematic dominance and oppression of women. Therefore, men show an aversion to feminism for fear that women will emancipate and want to question the cultural precepts that vilify them. Thus, it is noted that this is a fight in which patriarchy is losing. In addition, it can also be observed that yesterday's woman is not the same woman of today. Women have understood that they can

be free and equal to men, at least in terms of equal opportunities and are equal to decide for themselves. In this research, the word conflict has been chosen because it is noted that there is currently a struggle in the culture between feminism and patriarchy. No Fang man who assumes the ancestral cultural structure can admit that a woman is a feminist, since that would mean transferring power to women. On the basis of the above, the following questions arise: What gives patriarchy legitimacy to oppress Fang woman? Is feminism a trench for women or is it simply their chance to demand their autonomy? Why does the Fang man oppose feminism? Is feminism incompatible with the Fang culture?

This hypothesis has been raised: if the Fang woman received a feminist education, she would not endure all the abuses to which she is subjected by the patriarchy. To defend this position, some scientific literature will be used to respond to those who try to deny the subordination of women to men in the Fang culture, and then show that the Fang patriarchy is afraid of ideology feminist, reason for which patriarchy uses several objects to repel its impact on the Fang cultural context.

2. State-of-the-art

It must be said that talking about the Fang requires a brief description of this cultural group that is scattered in several Central African countries such as Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe. They come from the large linguistic family known as Bantú. In fact, the Fang language has a linguistic similarity to that of other people in Central Africa.

To better understand what the Fangs are, it must be considered:

The Fangs are the largest ethnic group in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Originally from the interior of the continental region, known as Río Muni, it is currently possible to find them in all the provinces of the country and it is estimated that they make up ninety percent of the population of the country. Beyond the Equatorial Guinean borders, they are distributed throughout neighboring countries, constituting one of the largest ethnic groups in Central Africa (Ovono, 2018, pp. 33-48).

As can be seen in the previous quotation, it is an ethnic group that has consolidated in Central Africa. For several years, this people has been shaping their own worldview. In fact, it is a culture that has been transmitted from one generation to another, preserving the cultural legacy inherited from its ancestors. These people have a diffuse origin because there are no testimonies that actually describe exactly their origin. The common hypothesis is often that the Fangs come from North Africa, where they had migrated looking for better settlements for cultivation and hunting.

Talking a little more about the Fangs, Professor Bolekia states that:

The Fangs are an ethnic group with a very characteristic cultural and linguistic identity [...] They continue to retain their tribal structure with patriarchs above those who have no other authority [...] It must be said that they are governed by the clan system, whose base group is the horizontal family, and whose members are grouped around a patriarch, descendants, other blood relatives, and others (Boleká, 2003, p. 25).

Resuming Bolekia's reflection, the Fangs form an ethnic group with their own idiosyncrasies. This means that they have their own myths, philosophy, anthropology, which constitutes the cultural heritage that characterizes them. Now, bearing in mind that feminism is a universal movement, it is more correct, at least in this context, to talk of

feminist ideology because as it has been said, "there is not a single feminism, but a multitude of feminism" (Elósegui, 2011, p. 18). If there are several feminisms, then it is right to talk about African feminist thinking by being the one that studies African women in their own context. In fact, in this research the universal feminist ideology in the African context of Equatorial Guinean women is addressed, which highlights the difficulties women go through in their culture and that condition them to behave in a certain way. In other words, African feminism is the one that "emphasizes the discrimination faced by African women by virtue not only of sex/gender, but also, and above all, of slavery, colonialism and racism" (Landaluze & Espel, 2015, p. 43) In other words, African feminism studies and lives the realities of African women, who are often alien to women from other cultural backgrounds due to the things they live such as ablation, forced marriage, levirate and polygamy.

All these realities experienced by African women are the clear testimony of the existence of patriarchy, a system of long-lived domination and perfectly established by the great patriarchs. Being a little more precise, patriarchy refers to "a system of social organization in which the key positions of power (political, economic, religious and military) are, exclusively or mostly, in the hands of men" (Morán, 2018, p. 39).

In international literature, the question of patriarchy and feminism is well studied. In other words, they are subjects that have lot of literature. Hence, the aim of this research is not to reconstruct the theoretical framework of feminism, because it is considered that there is already a lot of information. However, in terms of African feminism, the area in which this research is limited, it must be said that there is not enough research conducted to study sex/gender relations in the African continent.

The first feminist claims go back to the French Revolution, with protagonists such as Olimpia de Gauges, Mary Wollstonecraft, among others who fought alongside men to get the same rights. After these first demands, the suffragettes were reached, who demanded that women have the right to vote, a conquest that was not easy at all, although the purpose was finally achieved. For the first time, women could express their will in matters affecting all citizens through their participation in universal suffrage. For all this, it is clear that the feminist struggle is full of many pitfalls because it has not been easy to achieve the total emancipation of women. Feminism, as a political theory, must deepen and continue to advance the emancipation of women. One of the great events of feminism came with the publication of the Work of Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, a before and after of feminist ideology is marked. In this work, the author mentions that " there is not a situation of reciprocity between women and men, but a relationship of domination on the part of the man who uses the woman as dependent subject on the economic, ontological and moral interests" (Beauvoir, 2011, pp. 16-17). After the publication of this work, Betty Friedan's the mystique of femininity would later appear, to contribute as well as her predecessors to catapulting feminist thought. Friedan's concerns about the woman's situation were highlighted in her above-mentioned book. Friedan points out aspects such as that:

The woman was taught to sympathize with those neurotic, wretched and feminine women who pretended to be poets, doctors or politicians. She learned that truly female women do not aspire to pursue a career, to receive a higher education, to obtain the political rights, independence and opportunities that the former suffragettes had fought. [...] Thousands of authoritative voices applauded her femininity, her composure, her new maturity. All they had to do was devote themselves from their earliest age to finding a husband and to having and raising children (Friedan,1965, pp. 29-30).

Clearly, both Friedan (1965) and Beauvoir (1949) are a reference in feminist studies. The two focused on demonstrating that many things that were considered natural, such as women's submission to men, were nothing more than the product of a social construct established by men. In this sense, as Suárez points out, "feminism makes a lot of sense when defined as a movement conducive to improving the political, social, educative and economic condition of women” (Suárez, 2008, p. 10).

Therefore, feminism does not mean an ideology that goes against man, although it has sometimes been interpreted this way, which is not strange because feminism questions the established order in which women are submissive to man, an order that undoubtedly leads the way to boys. Women do not struggle to measure their pulses with men, it is simply a series of claims that cry out for justice and equality, because they have realized that the oppression of women has no basis, nor can it even continue to maintain the argument of the biological difference of the sexes to explain why there are inequalities between men and women. Today, the Catholic Church also does not support the distinction between the sexes there that contends that "according to the image of the creator there is neither male nor female" (Theological Sum I, q.92, a.1, c.). Obviously, this means that it is not natural for a woman to be oppressed or for the woman to be inferior to the man. It is true that in this work it is referred about the Fang woman, but it is admitted that in the face of feminist claims, there are no differences in women because they all want to emancipate, get ahead or be able to have their own income without relying on man. In other words, the common of all feminist claims is that they want to demolish the patriarchal system that has caused so much damage. Despite this evidence, it is also possible to re-mention that the cultural context of each woman must be taken into account in this struggle.

To understand the conflict of feminist ideology in the Fang culture, it must be taken into account that feminist theory is based on "three basic categories such as difference, inequality, and oppression" (Ritzer, 1993, p. 365). However, the foundation of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea and its rejection of feminism can be understood through the following theories.

a) The theory of the biological difference of genders. The traditional approach to explain the inequality between men and women is on the argument that biologically the body of men and women has different characteristics. Therefore, they must also be treated differently. Some authors such as Alice Rossi (1997), Freud, among others are in this line of thought.

Inequality and oppression are, in this sense, the result of the biological difference between men and women. The difference is established from the physiognomy of man and woman, i.e., the anatomical characteristics of women make it deserving of different treatment to man. In addition to this, it is necessary to take into account that, in many people around the world, including the Fang people of Equatorial Guinea, set out from this difference to establish different patterns of behavior for men and women. In short, the unequal or different treatment that women receive is usually justified on the fact that nature made man and woman different. Therefore, they should also be treated differently.

b) Theories of Gender Oppression. Why do the Fang men oppose feminism? This is the question proposed to answer in this investigation. First, it must be understood that feminism is the complete opposite of patriarchy. The Fang men are interested in oppressing and subduing women because in that way they can do everything they want with women. In this regard, it should be noted that:

For theorists and theorists of gender oppression, women find themselves in a situation where men use them, control, subdued, and oppress them. This pattern of oppression is deeply and powerfully incorporated into the organization of society, a basic structure of domination commonly called patriarchy (Ritzer, 1993, p. 379).

If there is this conflict between feminism and patriarchy, it is because men are unwilling for women to assume power as well. Understood by power the fact that women can also perform tasks that have traditionally been of men. The fight against oppression requires that women disassociate the name from the patriarchal system because it is totally incompatible with feminist ideology. Oppression has been exerted on women in all parts of the world, because women were seen as a less being than had to be educated according to certain standards of each society. More precisely, patriarchy must be destroyed in all its forms by representing a system of male domination. Therefore, the only way to combat patriarchy is to empower women to fight for their rights. The woman has been immolated in the Fang tradition, relegating her to the background, and making her believe that her sole purpose was to have babies and satisfy her husband's desires.

Equatorial Guinea's current revolution is mostly feminist because women's access to the world of work is unprecedented in the history of Equatorial Guinea. The Fang woman has come out of the private to the public. This achievement has been personally measured by the spread of feminist ideology, which represents a major advance on gender issues in Equatorial Guinea.

Current feminist movements point out that a particular gender (the female) has been systematically oppressed. For this reason, the current feminist struggle is entrusted with ending all the privileges that men have had to the detriment of women. In societies men have presented as protectors of women because they are apparently weak and need a man to protect them, while in return, they are dedicated to household tasks and childcare. With that way of organizing things, women ended up being devoid of their own autonomy, but it is time for social stereotypes to be destroyed to make the difference between men and women. As the world stands today, women need to take the leadership of the world, because men have failed in leading humanity to a better path, a fact that is evident in issues such as the two wars, the destruction of the ecosystem, among other things. For this reason, women need to take the leadership of the world. In the fight for equal opportunities between men and women, it is not just the woman who is fighting to make this possible. There are also men who have become aware of the social injustices or inequalities that patriarchy has imposed on the basis of sex/gender. For this reason, today's feminism is understood as:

All those individuals and groups, reflections and actions aimed at ending the subordination, inequality and oppression of women to achieve their emancipation and the construction of a society in which discrimination for gender does not have any room (Castells,1996, 10).

From the above definition, the theoretical basis of feminism becomes stronger because its goal is ultimately to end the total subordination of women to men, although it must be stated that the subordination of women has been the most universal form of the world. In fact, the pattern seen in all cultures of the world is in the secondary role that women play. Therefore, when feminism appears, it ends up stumbling with detractors, because they have considered it as a theory that encourages conflict between the masculine and the feminine, i.e., it has to deal with vilify. Bearing in mind the configuration of societies through patriarchy, "today's feminists would have as their main claim equal rights for women and

as a specific objective the achievement of a neutral world from the point of view of the gender" (Ergas, 2003, p. 603). In the light of this research, it must be clear that we are not against Fang culture because it is part of their idiosyncrasy; however, the problem is the reification to which women have been reduced and attempts to continue to do so, rejecting any ideology like the feminist that helps them to emancipate. The reasons why there is a rejection of feminist ideology, as a manifestation of patriarchy, are then set out. In this culture, there are reasons not to want feminism in Equatorial Guinea, at least as a movement that opposes the current patriarchal system. For example, polygamy, which is one of the ways patriarchy is manifested in Equatorial Guinea, is based in several ways, i.e. the man- imposed Fang patriarchy attempts to justify its practice through various arguments.

In this regard, Nsang Ovono notes that "the reasons alleged to support the polygamous family structure are very different. Among the reasons that lead Fang men to practice polygamy are economic, social, sexual and reproductive" (Ovono, 2018, pgs. 44-45).

Indeed, in order to have a new society that does not abandon its culture but criticizes itself from those things that dehumanize the human being, it is necessary that the consolidation of feminist ideology should take place. To live in a society that does not discriminate against people because of their sex, it is necessary to promote feminist ideology in Equatorial Guinea, and indeed, feminism acted as "the lantern that shows shadows of all the great ideas developed without and sometimes at their expense: democracy, economic development, well-being, justice, family, religion, etc" (Varela, 2019, p. 27). In this sense, the cultural construction of women has to be demolished by questioning all the institutions in which patriarchy manifests itself, which is the germ of the oppression in which women have been involved for years.

3. Defense of the hypothesis

With regard to the issue being addressed, the following thesis is defended: there is conflict between feminist ideology and patriarchy in the Fang culture of Equatorial Guinea because men want to continue to oppress women.

The only way it can be avoided is by eliminating the culture that has been inherited. The problem lies in the way in which culture conceives men and women, assigning them roles based on their gender. It is the arbitrariness of culture that causes women to subsume the way in the terrible behavior they receive from men. The importance of women is linked to their motherhood, in fact, they are valued because they are able to procreate. For that to change, women need to receive a feminist education that helps them get out of the patriarchal they are immersed in. In this sense, it is answered to those who deny that the woman is subordinated to the man, obliged to unquestionably respect what his master says. For some Guineo-Ecuadorian writers, women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men. Feminist education means that women should be educated as a person who has rights and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, something that is very blurred in this culture in which men set the guidelines.

The enormous sociocultural differences between men and women have always been established by looking at men. That means that they assume the entrustment of caring for the woman, since it is impossible that she can do it alone. The order established by the great patriarchs makes it difficult to emancipate women. This order is so well established because it is fostered by patriarchy, "a system of male domination that determines the oppression and subordination of women" (Varela, 2019, p. 109). Raising women's awareness of their situation in this culture means revolutionizing everything because things are made to privilege man as the protagonist of history and all the great exploits of this ethnic group,

everything is circumscribed around the man, and if for some reason the woman is mentioned it is simply to evoke her motherhood. This is not uncommon, because the asymmetry in the relationships between men and women characterizes this culture, which inevitably leads to the appearance of unequal treatment for women.

One of the great achievements that feminist ideology has had in Equatorial Guinea is to have made the private public. The Fang woman leaves the private to the public because she previously had restricted access to places that were considered as public as the abaa, the house of the word, where the most pressing issues of the villages were discussed. Today feminism has allowed this to change and women have been determinedly given their commitment to the path of equality, even if there is strong patriarchal resistance. Therefore, it cannot be said that there is no discrimination against women in the Fang culture. In fact, there are authors who try to manipulate reality with statements such as:

The Fang woman is not a commodity that is bought and sold, nor is it a worker; she is a wife and a mother. It is the essential element for the clan's growth and perpetuity. She is able to take responsibility and actively contributes to her husband's reputation and her own (Abuy, 1985, p. 30).

Nzé Abuy's approach presents many sexist indications. For example, that the woman is a wife and mother to contribute to her husband's reputation. The Fang woman is assigned only the role of mother. Her only task is to bring many children into the world for the continuity of the clan. There is no other purpose because her passage through this life will only be reflected in being a mother.

The woman was regarded as a good, i.e., a kind of heritage of the tribe and the family. The estate available to polygamous is not only nourished by economic goods, but to the number of children and the staff of wives (Mve, 1981, p. 36).

The above quotation allows to argue that a good can be acquired in different forms. Previously, perhaps the woman was not an object of purchase, although it is not to clear because the current Fang marriage, despite the small differences it presents from the old, is but the replica of what the ancestors did, i.e., they got married by the dome, which consisted of a symbolic object that the man's family gave to that of the woman he wanted to marry.

Obviously, the Fang man likes to have lots of wives, as Constantino OCHÁA MVÉ reminds in the quote above, i.e., the man wants lots of wives to give him many children, there is no other reason except that. A woman is bought to have children. Therefore, "some women in their youth were forced to undergo certain magical treatments aimed at suggesting them so that they would consider their sex for essentially procreative purposes"(Mve, 1981, p. 56). It has been said to buy the woman because the existence of the dowry is the previous step towards discrimination and subordination suffered by women. No matter how much explanation is to be made of the dowry as a cultural element and symbol of union in the Fang culture, the dowry gives man the power to decide and make decisions in the life of a woman because it seems an object that is bought. The existence of the dowry in the Fang marriage is explained as follows:

The dowry is especially important among the Fangs, it is the money that the family of the future husband must pay to the family of the future wife, it is so relevant that without dowry there is no marriage. Its price may

fluctuate depending on the woman's age, whether or not she has children (Mekuy, 2019, p. 1).

Although the dowry is a symbol of union between two families, even more so, between tribes, it can also become an instrument of oppression and torment in the life of the Fang women. Feminist ideology is at a tremendous crossroads when it comes to applying in the Fang culture. The Fang woman is aware that she must change her traditional status to that of empowered woman, and she cannot always remain anonymous to which she has been imposed. Today, it seems that the Fang woman is more empowered than ever, but she must confront the patriarchy, must deal with her tradition and fight with it. The old cultural schemes that demanded the total subordination of women to men are beginning to tremble because many women have begun to question this form of social organization where the woman is only valued because it is her who can bring the world to children, her sole objective. In the patriarchy that occurs in the Fang culture, there is undoubtedly a sexual division of labor, and it must be added the cultural stereotypes of all kinds that are assigned to women. They are no longer willing to tolerate that, so many have found their fight in feminist ideology. Today's Fang woman is increasingly inclined to be a feminist, even if many of them do not know, because unconsciously many women question the established order without knowing that they are changing or struggling to give a new perspective to establish human relations between men and women in Equatorial Guinean society. This is a new generation of women who are unwilling to wait seated and endure any form of violence or discrimination on the part of men. Modern times require to respect the Equatorial Guinean woman as a person and not as an object. The revolution has to be feminist in Equatorial Guinea in order to continue advancing rights because the path so far is incipient, although it must be recognized that much has been achieved, it still needs to be consolidated.

Because of the latter, it is believed that it is the era of the struggle against the patriarchal system to recapture the rights and freedoms of African women in general, and in particular, of the Fang women. It is true that patriarchy is holding up a lot, but the most important thing is to point out that its days are almost over because women support at each other to jointly claim their rights and demand equal opportunities between men and women. Evidently, these feminist ideas find a bad side on the side of men, because they do not want to lose that ancestral privilege they had "inherited", thus, it is not a surprise that there is a conflict of feminist ideology in the Fang culture.

The conflict is due to the rejection of feminism to prevent women from being able to decide for themselves as well. For this reason, it is not surprising that there are still traditions in the Fang culture that only support the idea of subordination and therefore discrimination. This is a globalized world and these are societies where democracy is absented and is hidden and does not consider women’s will. Despite all these circumstances, it must be admitted that feminist ideology has been the panacea of many achievements of African women in general, and of the Fang women in particular, thus knocking down the old patriarchy and struggling to construct another kind of patriarchy, the one that even if it follows culture, it is prone to policies of equality between men and women.

4. Conclusion

As a starting point, this researched has raised the question of the conflict of feminist ideology in the Fang culture in order to approach the study of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea. To address this issue, literature was used to lay the foundations on feminist ideology, and then to analyze the manifestation of the patriarchal system in the Fang culture

from Guinea Equatorial. For this reason, a thesis has been presented throughout this investigation, because it has been realized that the Fang man wants the woman to be submissive, something that is already difficult because thanks to feminist ideas, the Fang woman is letting go the patriarchal belief. As seen in this article, women are valued solely by their ability to procreate. This emphasizes the importance of women in the Fang patriarchal system. For centuries, patriarchy has convinced the Fang woman that her place is in the kitchen to feed the offspring, take care of the home and her husband.

On the African continent, the feminist ideology that advocates a new way of thinking and understanding life is adjusted to the reality that African women live within their context, giving rise to what is known as African feminism, which has allowed all African women in general, and particularly the Fang woman, to fight for respect of their dignity as a human person. Today's Fang woman is no longer in support of the cultural burden imposed on her by the unfounded patriarchy. In fact, she is revealing against oppression by demanding not to have to marry if she does not want to, not having to serve only to give birth, not to have to endure the polygamy, the levirate, and the different types of rites to which she is subjected.

It is therefore not uncommon for today's Equatorial Guinean society to experience an authentic conflict between feminist ideology and patriarchy. Modern times demand the abandonment of aberrant cultural practices that denote women's freedom. Therefore, feminism and patriarchy are incompatible, in fact, it has been argued that there is conflict because two positions are completely opposed in the Fang culture, feminist ideology and patriarchy are mentioned, which cannot currently coexist together. While it is true that patriarchy is trying to rearm itself against feminist ideology, it is clear that the Fang woman has decided not to take any step back. Therefore, it is necessary for the Fang woman to continue to bet on empowerment to prevent any woman from having to go through the behavior she has been subjected to for years by the patriarchal system that she is intended to eliminate. Everything that has been achieved in favor of the empowerment of Fang women is very important because it is intended to bring about a new society where women do not have to be discriminated against because they are women. Fang culture is very conservative to easily yield to progressive ideas, in which women are not regarded as an object but rather as a human person deserving a decent treatment for their status as a person.

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Authors

PEDRO BAYEME BITUGA NCHAMA obtained in 2017his degree in Humanities, in the profile of international cooperation and development by the Faculty of Humanities and Religious Sciences of the National University of Equatorial Guinea. In 2019 he completed the Master's Degree in Humanistic and Social Studies at tUniversitat Abat Oliba-CEU of Barcelona. He is in the preparation phase of the Master's research entitled the causes of polygamy in the Fang ethnic: study of patriarchy in Equatorial Guinea, which will be presented at the June 2020 call.

He is currently a full-time professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Religious Sciences of the National University of Equatorial Guinea, where he teaches the subjects of Sexuality, Gender and Power, and Scientific Research Methodology. His main research topics include the feminist and cultural issues of his context. He is the author of some articles published in scientific journals such as Academia.Edu. He has directed several researches related to his lines of research.