A survey of Burkinabe literature written in English shows variations in literary portrayal of men and women. The purpose of this paper is to show that the images of women promulgated by Burkinabe literature in English are mostly
traditional ones and cannot be a representation that mobilises social constructivism in modern times, as few educated women would be ready to play the role patriarchy assigns to women. The comparative approach in this analysis shows
that two out of the three selected writers advocate women‘s situation as natural, part of Burkinabe age-long tradition. Only one writer, Noélie Yaogo, tries to fight against traditional beliefs and customs that go against women‘s empowerment; she shows that the roles traditionally assigned to women as well as the women-related mores are socially constructed. Critically analysing three selected works by these three Burkinabe novelists with the theory of feminism, specifically Simone de Beauvoir and Irigaray‘s body-related feminist theory, Hélène Cixious‘ écriture
féminine and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s feminism, this paper examines the representation of women in these literary works and specifically shows that the novels of Michel Tinguiri and Bali Nebié have a patriarchal agenda while Noëlie
Yaogo‘s, despite the authoress‘s claim of a feminist agenda, is actually ideologically conflicted.

Feminism, Burkinabe literature, culture, patriarchy, emancipation.