A Brief Look At Feminism English Literature Essay

A Brief Look At Feminism English Literature Essay Feminism is used as a point of reference to make sense of the marginalization of women. Feminism offers an explanation of the political, economic and social situations of women and it puts forward an explanation of their history with oppression. Feminism in literature refers to the nature of the female experience in it. It involves the experiences of the character, the rational, institutional, imaginative capacity of an author and the experience implicit in the language of structure that interrogates the cultural prescriptions. Feminist Writings cover all aspects of writing for women, by women, and about women and the issues that concern them. This seems to be the primary concern of female fiction writers from feminist perspective. A feminist fiction is a work where language and imagery are employed to impart a new vision of reality to perceive reality from woman’s mind. Patriarchal societies favour men over women in matters of decision making, positions of authority, and own ership of property. Johnson (1997), a sociologist who taught at Hartford College for Women, describes patriarchy as: A society is patriarchal to the degree that it is male-dominated, male- identified, and male-centeredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it also involves as one of its key aspects the oppression of women. Patriarchy is male-dominated in that positions of authority-political, economic, legal, religious, educational, military, domestic-are generally reserved for men. Heads of states, corporate CEOs and Board members, religious leaders, school principals, members of Legislatures at all levels of government, senior law partners, tenured full professors, generals and admirals, and even those identified as ‘head of household’ all tend to be male under patriarchy. Men who occupy positions of authority are assumed to have attained those positions due to natural dominance. Patriarchy perpetuates male dominance. Throughout history male dominance has been asserted through a set of prac tices that has caused women to be seen as naturally subordinate to men. For example, in a patriarchal system women learn to see themselves from the standpoint of men. Li and Bolaria (1994) say that patriarchy is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a societal phenomenon marked by the domination of certain men over other men, all women and children. A system of ruling where power is exercised as domination over others and stems from the historical emergence of the oppression of women. (84). Li and Bolaria further suggest that because women see themselves from the standpoint of men, they begin to form an internalized view of themselves based on their association with men. This internalized view is the result of adopting patriarchal perspectives, which lead women undervaluing themselves. Generations of patriarchal conditioning are perpetuated as women are socialized to learn they are inferior to men. Betty Friedan says in Feminine Mystique, â€Å"The feminine mystique permits, even encourages, women to ig nore the question of their identity. The mystique says they can answer the question â€Å"Who am I?† by saying â€Å"Tom’s wifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Mary’s mother.† So a woman should possess her independent identity. Woman’s confidence to assert her independent identity without referring to husband or other persons and her efforts to live according to her own ideas and ideals is a goal of feminism.