Feminism in
Literature
What is
Feminism?
Feminism is the belief in social, economic and
political equality of all gender.
THE MAD WOMEN
THESIS
The thesis suggests that because society forbade
women from expressing themselves through
creative outlets, their creative powers where
channeled into psychologically self-destructive
behavior and subversive actions.
What is Feminist
LITERATURE?
Forms of literary works that supports feminist
goals of defining, establishing and defending
women’s rights.
“The BOOK OF THE
One of theCITY OF
first books thatLADIES”
depicted
feminism written by a female author.
This book is written by Christine de
Pizan in 1405. The book contains
proses that combats all the prejudices
against women in the society by
collecting a wide array of famous
women throughout history.
PHASES OF FeminisM IN
LITERATURE
Because of the changing times, feminism has gone
through many phases as well. Along with these,
feminism has notably undergone three (3) waves.
FIRST WAVE of
FEMINISM IN
LITERATURE
During the first wave of feminism in literature,
(POLITICAL)
female writers were forced to adhere to male
values by writing as ‘men’. Hence, this phase
focused mainly on the political and economic
equality.
Mary Ann Evans
This English novelist who became one of
the leading writers of the Victorian era and
wrote famous novels such as Adam Bede
(1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860) and
Middlemarch (1871-1872) was popularly
known for her pen name, George Eliot.
Evans adopted a “masculine pen name” in
order to be taken seriously as a writer.
SECOND WAVE OF
FEMINISM in literature
(CULTURAL)
The central theme of works by female writers
during the second wave feminism was the
criticism of the role of women in society. This
phase is also known as the Gynocriticism.
GYNOCRITICISM
Gynocriticism is the study of women’s writing.
This focuses more on recognizing the different
approach and style of writing of all female
authors.
Virginia Woolf
An English writer considered one of the
most important modernist 20th-century
authors and a pioneer in the use of stream
of consciousness as a narrative device.
She wrote Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the
Lighthouse (1927), and arguably her most
popular one, A Room of One’s Own
(1929).
A Room of One’s Own (1929)
The central point of Virginia Woolf’s A
Room of One’s Own is that every woman
needs a room of her own – something men
are able to enjoy without question during
Woolf’s time.
The book also points out that women need
money and room of their own so that they
can lead their own lives and no longer
have to be subservient to men.
THIRD WAVE OF
FEMINISM in literature
(ACADEMIC)
Third Wave Feminism in literature is heavily influenced by
postmodernist movement in the academy. This wave seeks
to question, reclaim and redefine the ideas about
womanhood, gender, beauty, sexuality, femininity and
masculinity. It is also more inclusive to women of color
compared to the first two waves.
The Beauty Myth (1991)
This is a nonfiction book written by
American author, Naomi Wolf.
The basic premise of The Beauty Myth is that
as the social power and prominence of
women have increased, the pressure they feel
to adhere to unrealistic social standards of
physical beauty has also grown stronger
because of commercial influences on the
mass media. This book made its author lead
the third wave of feminist movement.
