1
concerned with
"...the ways in which literature (and other cultural
productions) reinforce or undermine the economic,
political, social, and psychological oppression of
women" (Tyson).
2
concerned with less obvious forms of
marginalization such as the exclusion of women
writers from the traditional literary canon: “
a tendency to under-represent the contribution of
women writers"
(Tyson 82-83)
3
Patriarchy is a social system in which society is
organized around male authorities (figures).
In this system fathers have authority over women,
children, and property.
4
It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege,
and is dependent on female subordination.
Most forms of feminism characterize patriarchy as
an unjust social system that is oppressive to women.
5
1. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically,
politically, socially, and psychologically;
2. patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which
they are kept so.
6
3. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is
the other:
she is marginalized
defined only by her difference from male norms and
values
7
4. All of western (Anglo-European) civilization is
deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for example,
in the biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin
and death in the world
8
5. biology determines whether we are male/ female
(our sex)
6. culture determines whether we are masculine/
feminine (our gender )
7. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and
literary criticism, has as its ultimate goal-
‘the promotion of gender equality’
9
7. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human
production and experience (blue/pink)
8. including the production and experience of
literature, whether we are consciously aware of
these issues or not.
10
Feminist theory which emerged from feminist
movements, aims to understand
the nature of gender inequality by examining
women's social roles and lived experience;
it has developed theories in a variety of disciplines
in order to respond to issues such as the social
construction of sex and gender.
11
Some forms of feminism have been criticized for
taking into account only white, middle-class,
educated perspectives.
This led to the creation of ethnically specific or
multi culturalist forms of feminism.
12
Charles Fourier, a Utopian Socialist and French
philosopher, is credited with having coined the
word "feminism" in 1837.
The words "feminism" and "feminist" first appeared
in France and the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain
in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910,
13
The history of the modern western feminist
movements is divided into three "waves".
The first wave comprised women's suffrage
movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, promoting women's right to vote.
14
The second wave was associated with the ideas
and actions of the women's liberation movement
beginning in the 1960s. The second wave
campaigned for legal and social equality for women.
15
The third wave is a continuation of, and a reaction
to, the perceived failures of second-wave feminism,
beginning in the 1990s.
16
equal contract, marriage, parenting, and
property rights for women
First-wave feminism was a period of activity during
the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
In the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of
equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property
rights for women.
17
By the end of the nineteenth century, activism
focused primarily on gaining political power,
particularly the right of women's suffrage, though
some feminists were active in campaigning for
women's sexual, reproductive, and economic rights
as well
18
In the United States, first-wave feminism is
considered to have ended with the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution(1919), granting women the right to
vote in all states.
19
The term first wave was coined to categorize these
western movements after the term second-wave
feminism began to be used to describe a newer
feminist movement that focused as much on
fighting social and cultural inequalities
20
French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir provided a
Marxist solution and an existentialist view on many
of the questions of feminism with the publication
of Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949.
The book expressed the feminists' sense of
injustice.
21
Second-wave feminism is a feminist movement
beginning in the early 1960s and continuing to the
present;
as such, it coexists with third-wave feminism.
22
Second-wave feminism is largely concerned with
issues of equality other than suffrage, such as
ending discrimination.
23
Second-wave feminists
women's cultural and political inequalities as
inextricably linked
and encourage women to understand aspects of their
personal lives as deeply politicized
and as reflecting sexist power structures.
24
The feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch
coined the slogan "The Personal is Political", which
became synonymous with the second wave.
25
Third-wave feminism contains internal debates
between feminists, who believe that
there are no inherent differences between the sexes
contend that gender roles are due to social
conditioning
26
The term is used to describe a range of viewpoints
reacting to feminism since the 1980s.
post-feminists believe that women have achieved
second wave goals while being critical of third wave
feminist goals.
27
The term was first used to describe a backlash
against second-wave feminism,
it is now a label for a wide range of theories that
take critical approaches to previous feminist
discourses and includes challenges to the second
wave's ideas.
28
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into
anthropology, sociology, economics,
women's studies, literary criticism,
art history, psychoanalysis
and philosophy
29
Feminist theory aims to understand gender
inequality and focuses on:
gender politics,
power relations, and
sexuality.
30
discrimination,
stereotyping,
objectification (especially sexual objectification),
oppression,
patriarchy
31
In the field of literary criticism, Elaine Showalter
describes the development of feminist theory as
having three phases.
1. "feminist critique", in which the feminist reader
examines the ideologies behind literary
phenomena.
32
2. Showalter calls "gynocriticism", in which the
"woman is producer of textual meaning".
3. The last phase she calls "gender theory", in which
the "ideological inscription and the literary effects
of the sex/gender system are explored".
33
This was paralleled in the 1970s by French feminists,
who developed the concept of écriture féminine
Helene Cixous argues that writing and philosophy
are phallocentric and along with other French
feminists such as Luce Irigaray emphasize "writing
from the body" as a subversive exercise
34
The work of Julia Kristeva, a feminist
psychoanalyst and philosopher, and
Bracha Ettinger, artist and psychoanalyst,
has influenced feminist theory in general and
feminist literary criticism in particular.
35
seeks individualistic equality of men and women
through political and legal reform without altering
the structure of society.
36
considers the male-controlled capitalist hierarchy as
the defining feature of women's oppression and the
total uprooting and reconstruction of society as
necessary
37
see men's control of land as responsible for the
oppression of women and destruction of the natural
environment;
ecofeminism has been criticised for focusing too
much on a mystical connection between women
and nature.
38
capitalism is the root cause of women's oppression
discrimination against women in domestic life
discrimination in employment is an effect of
capitalist ideologies
39
women's liberation can only be achieved by
economic sources of women's oppression
working to end cultural sources of women's
oppression
40
Challenge some of the organizing premises of
Western feminist thought since
Historically, feminist movements and theoretical
developments were led by middle-class white
women from Western Europe and North America
41
women of other races have proposed alternative
feminisms
42
The 1960s saw the civil rights movement in the
United States and the collapse of European
colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, parts of
Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
43
Women from developing nations and former
colonies
Women who are of colour or various ethnicities
or women living in poverty
have proposed additional feminisms
44
Postcolonial feminists argue that colonial
oppression and Western feminism marginalized
postcolonial women but did not turn them passive
or voiceless.
Third-world feminism is closely related to
postcolonial feminism and African feminism.
45
In the late twentieth century various feminists
began to argue that gender roles are socially
constructed,
and that it is impossible to generalize women's
experiences across cultures and histories
46
Post-structural feminism draws on the philosophies
of post-structuralism and deconstruction in order
to argue that the concept of gender is created
socially and culturally through discourse
47
Feminist jurisprudence is a branch of jurisprudence
that examines the relationship between women and
law. It addresses questions about the history of legal
and social biases against women and about the
enhancement of their legal rights.
48
law is a process for interpreting and perpetuating a
society's universal, gender-neutral ideals
the philosophical approach of modern legal
scholars
Feminist legal scholars claim that this fails to
acknowledge women's values or legal interests or
the harms that they may anticipate or experience
49
Feminist jurisprudence signifies a reaction to the
philosophical approach of modern legal scholars,
who typically see law as a process for interpreting
and perpetuating a society's universal, gender-
neutral ideals.
50
The feminist movement produced both feminist
fiction and non-fiction, and created new interest in
women's writing.
51
It also prompted a general re-evaluation of women's
historical and academic contributions
in response to the belief that women's lives and
contributions have been under represented as areas
of scholarly interest.
52
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by
Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of
feminist philosophy.
A Room of One's Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf, is
noted in its argument for both a literal and figural
space for women writers within a literary tradition
dominated by patriarchy.
53
Hortense Spillers, Susan Gubar, Nancy Armstrong,
Annette Kolodny and Irene Tayler use their own
subjective experiences to inform their
understanding of feminist literature
54
Currently, several university scholars all employ the
usage of literary feminism when critiquing texts
raising questions over the gender relationships
within texts.
55
The Black Woman: An Anthology, edited by Cade
(1970) is seen as essential to the rise of Black literary
criticism and theory. It’s compilation of poems,
short stories and essays gave rise to new
institutionally supported forms of Black literary
scholarship.
56
Simone de Beauvoir stood in opposition to an image
of "the woman in the home".
De Beauvoir provided an existentialist dimension to
feminism with the publication of Le Deuxième Sexe
(The Second Sex) in 1949.
57
As the title implies, the starting point is the
implicit inferiority of women, and the first
question de Beauvoir asks is "what is a woman"?.
Woman she realizes is always perceived of as the
"other",
"she is defined and differentiated with reference to
man and not he with reference to her".
58
In this book and her essay, "Woman: Myth &
Reality", de Beauvoir demythologise the male
concept of woman.
"A myth invented by men to confine women to
their oppressed state. For women it is not a
question of asserting themselves as women, but
of becoming full-scale human beings."
59
Toril Moi : "a woman defines herself through the
way she lives her embodied situation in the
world...through the way in which she makes
something of what the world makes of her".
60
“One is not born, but rather
becomes, a woman”
61
