Seven Reasons Why 4B Feminism Feels Like Science Fiction to Africa’s Feminist Realities

A South Korean feminist movement known as the "4B movement"—representing bihon (no marriage), bichulsan (no childbearing), biyeonae (no dating), and bisekseu (no sex with men)—has gained global attention for its radical denunciation of patriarchy. For many young Korean women, the 4B movement is a personal rebirth, a refusal to accept mainstream gender roles and a rejection of the emotional, social, and economic burdens imposed upon them.

For many African feminists, however, the 4B movement often seems almost utopian—or like science fiction. In many parts of Africa, the feminist struggle remains focused on foundational rights such as education, security, bodily autonomy, and non-discriminatory access to work and political power. While Korean women are withdrawing from marriage as an institution, many African women are still fighting to survive within it. This essay argues that 4B should not be dismissed as an exotic form of feminism but rather understood as a sign that the struggle for basic equality has largely been won in its context. In contrast, African feminisms are still engaged in the foundational work of establishing that equality. The following seven reasons shed light on why a withdrawal-based feminism feels so distant from the realities of Africa.

1. Feminism of Refusal vs. Feminism of Survival

The first reason 4B feels futuristic in the African context lies in its material and economic foundations. The ability to refuse marriage or romantic partnerships presupposes a level of economic autonomy and state protection that is not widely available to many African women. Even in urban areas, women face wage gaps, precarious informal work, and discriminatory inheritance laws.

For example, Nigeria’s Market Women's Movement, which emerged from the activism of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, focused on fair trade practices and tax relief, not on boycotting indigenous institutions. Economic interdependence made marriage and family a means of survival, not just a site of constraint. Similarly, FIDA-Kenya today continues to advocate for women’s property rights and protection from domestic violence, demonstrating that feminism is still centered on securing basic material justice.

In contrast, 4B feminism flourishes in an industrialized economy that allows the average woman to earn, rent, and live independently. As the feminist scholar Amina Mama reminds us, a Black woman's primary feminist act is often "to eat, to live, and to persevere." Refusal assumes stability; survival does not.

2. Different Stages in Feminist Evolution

Feminist movements evolve in stages, depending on the institutionalization of women's rights in a given society. In South Korea, the legal foundations for gender equality—in education, work, and divorce—were established long ago. 4B, therefore, is born in a "post-equality" context, challenging the cultural and social remnants of patriarchy rather than its legal structures.

The African continent, by contrast, remains in the early to intermediate stages of this evolution. Tunisia fully decriminalized domestic violence only in 2017, and Sudan banned female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2020—both significant but recent gains. Feminist organizations in Uganda and Malawi are still fighting for equitable inheritance and citizenship laws. These examples show that African feminism is more about securing access to rights than practicing abstinence from institutions. As the Nigerian scholar Oyeronke Oyewumi observes, "The Western notion of gender emancipation assumes that women have autonomy already." In many African societies, the struggle is still to establish that autonomy in the first place.

3. Negotiation, Not Exit: The Logic of “Nego-Feminism”

The scholar Obioma Nnaemeka describes African feminism as "nego-feminism"—the feminism of compromise and negotiation. Unlike 4B, which advocates for disengagement, nego-feminism operates within patriarchal structures to reform them from the inside. Instead of abandoning institutions like the family, community, or church, African feminists often seek to transform them.

For example, Tostan, a community-based NGO in Senegal, works with elders and religious leaders to advocate for women's rights through dialogue, progressively changing harmful practices like child marriage. Similarly, women's groups within Ugandan churches, such as the Mothers' Union, blend feminist principles with religious authority to promote change without resorting to open confrontation. These tactics are fundamentally at odds with 4B’s logic of refusal. In contexts where identity is defined by collective belonging, to refuse is to disappear. Therefore, African feminisms express rebellion through resilience and reinterpretation, not rejection.

4. Religion, Culture, and the Moral Economy of Womanhood

The 4B movement thrives in the increasingly urban, individualized, and secular culture of South Korea. In much of Africa, however, religion and tradition remain the moral foundation of womanhood. Christianity and Islam dominate social narratives about female virtue, marriage, and motherhood. An outright rejection of these institutions would risk not only social exclusion but also moral censure.

Pioneering feminists like Nawal El Saadawi faced harsh criticism in Egypt for challenging sexual and marital taboos and were often accused of blasphemy. Similarly, the #ArewaMeToo movement in Nigeria, led by Muslim women from the north, highlighted the difficulty of openly questioning patriarchal norms in deeply religious societies. This moral framework constrains the feasibility of a withdrawal-based feminism. African feminists often have to frame their resistance in morally acceptable terms, emphasizing community, justice, or compassion rather than individual isolation. The 4B rhetoric of "no men, no marriage" would likely be interpreted not as liberation but as moral anarchy.

5. Economic Precarity and the Cost of Withdrawal

The economic precarity of many African women exacerbates the gendered cost of "refusal politics." In South Korea, female literacy is over 99%, and urban employment rates for women are high. In Africa, however, women constitute a disproportionate share of the workforce in low-security informal labor and own less than 20% of the continent's formal businesses.

In rural Ethiopia, where women's land ownership is less than 15%, marriage is often the only reliable path to accessing land. The work of women's coalitions in Zimbabwe to secure property rights underscores that for many, economic agency must precede personal autonomy. Without independent financial means and in the absence of robust social safety nets, avoiding marriage or family networks would lead to profound vulnerability. In these contexts, patriarchy can function as a perverse form of protection, and refusal is not an act of feminist bravery but of potential self-destruction.

6. Visibility, Legitimacy, and the Politics of Feminist Speech

The 4B movement’s success is partly attributable to South Korea's digital landscape, which allows for online mobilizationand anonymity. Participants often voice their dissent on pseudonymous platforms to avoid physical reprisals. In many African countries, however, speaking out as a feminist is a high-risk act. Activists can face police intimidation, cultural ostracism, or defamation. The feminist scholar Stella Nyanzi was imprisoned in Uganda for her sharp critiques of patriarchal politics. Women protesters who led the 2019 uprising in Sudan were later targeted with gendered violence.

In this environment, African feminists cannot afford to retreat; they must occupy space and resist publicly to affirm their existence. While silence and withdrawal may be strategic in East Asia, in Africa, absence often means erasure. Visibility remains a political necessity, not a choice.

7. Unequal Timing: Feminism’s Global Asymmetry

Ultimately, the primary reason 4B resonates as science fiction in Africa is its timing. Feminist movements evolve at different speeds. In the West and East Asia, decades of industrialization, urbanization, and education have enabled the emergence of new forms of individualist feminism. In Africa, where poverty is gendered, governance is fragile, and traditionalism remains potent, feminism is still collective, pragmatic, and socially embedded.

Consider the #TotalShutdown movement in South Africa, which mobilized women to protest gender-based violence. Its demands were for state protection, justice, and accountability—not a withdrawal from relationships. Similarly, Akina Mama wa Afrika, a Pan-African feminist organization, remains focused on leadership training, sexual health, and legal empowerment, not personal detachment. These examples illustrate that the goal of African feminism remains collective liberation rather than individual refusal. As the South African scholar Pumla Gqola puts it, “Freedom must be built before it can be inhabited.” The feminist imagination must first construct the house before deciding whether to live in it alone.

Conclusion: When Feminism Dreams in Different Languages

The 4B movement in South Korea represents a bold feminist dream of refusal—a protest against relational exhaustion in an advanced capitalist society. In Africa, where patriarchy is still a matter of law, custom, and survival, that dream feels remote. Feminism here remains a project of inclusion, not withdrawal; of negotiation, not negation.

But perhaps this is the true beauty of global feminism: it adapts. The Korean woman who says, “I refuse,” and the African woman who says, “I endure,” are both rewriting patriarchy’s script in the only languages their contexts allow. One protests through absence, the other through persistence. Both are acts of rebellion.

Someday, when African women no longer have to fight for basic safety, education, or a voice, perhaps a 4B-like movement could emerge—not as an imported ideology but as an indigenous evolution. Until then, as the South African activist Lebohang Liepollo Pheko reminds us, “African feminism remains revolutionary precisely because it begins where the world forgets us: at survival.”

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