At the closing of the recent PEN World Voices Festival in New York, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke out against the ‘codes of silence’ that govern American life. "The fear of causing offence, the fear of ruffling the careful layers of comfort, becomes a fetish," Adichie said.

Practising what she preaches, the award-winning writer recently spoke out against the criminalisation of homosexuality in her home country. But, she told The Guardian: "I have often been told that I cannot speak on certain issues because I am young, and female, or, to use the disparaging Nigerian speak, because I am a 'small girl'…I have also been told that I should not speak because I am a fiction writer...But I am as much a citizen as I am a writer."

Adichie’s critique could equally be levelled at South Africa’s slow burning culture of consent in relation to everyday gender inequities and the often unspoken violence that plagues the lives of many South African women. This year, the National Arts Festival tackles this seam of gender inequality head on.

This focus forms part of the overall thrust of this year’s Festival to bring urgent social matters to light and present material that explores the limits of expressive liberty, provoking audiences and taking them beyond their comfort zones. “The arts need to challenge and provoke,” says the festival’s artistic director, Ismail Mahomed – and that includes provocation in relation to the most intimate questions of gender identity, sexuality and power relations.

More female artists have been consciously featured in the 2015 programme in an effort to amplify female voices in the theatrical, performing and visual arts. Among the many female writers, directors, performers, curators and trailblazing artists across all genres appearing at this year’s National Arts Festival, some of the leading lights include: Tara Louise Notcutt, Thoko Ntshinga, Patricia Boyer, Nelisiwe Xaba, Mamela Nyamza, Jolynn Minaar, Jodi Bieber, Monique Pelser, Thandiswa Mazwai and Thandi Ntuli.

Also catch pianist Kai-ya Chang and gifted vocalists Nomfundo Xaluva, Lindiwe Maxolo, Auriol Hays and Siya Makuzeni (vocals/trombone) at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival.

For more information and to make bookings for the National Arts Festival, visit the festival website or by call 086 000 2004.

Alternatively, connect with the festival via Facebook and Twitter.