Women around the world are subject to discrimination and violence at the hands of men. Their status has been manipulated by men by different sections of society such as clergy, politicians, and economists. Women, especially in the United States were considered to be second class citizens to men; this eventually led to many historic movements by feminists, who aim for equal rights for women. To build awareness, artists and writers in history also played their role in giving boost to feminism. Virginia Woolf, Kate Millet, Alice Walker, John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, Germaine Greer, and Elizabeth Stanton are writers who used their analytical and literary abilities to influence their readers, so as to improve their social status. According to Rita Felski, literature has greatly been influenced by Feminism. The paper analyzes the role of literature in promoting the feminism in the Western world ( Felski, Rita. 2003).
Virginia Woolf imagined an anecdotal character in her essay ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’, Judith, she represented a lady who with Shakespeare's blessings would not get the same chance to improvise just like Woolf. Woolf did not go to school unlike her brothers. Judith could not attend school and gain education while her brother William went. Judith is caught inside her home "She was as brave, as inventive, as excited to see the world as he might have been. In any case, she was not allowed for education." (Woolf 50). Woolf's composition suddenly reduces Judith's odds of satisfying her guarantee with "however" by William. Later on, William gets to know of her education and her parents decide to end her educational journey.
Judith is promised independence but and is wed against her wishes; she is physically tortured and after that disgraced into marriage by her dad. While Shakespeare finds a great career, Judith is caught by the restrictions. Judith commits suicide and her talent goes unexpressed, while Shakespeare establishes his golden career.
The story of Judith depicts the sad truth of the global culture that discriminated women merely on the basis of their gender. The story of women in Eastern countries is entirely different. Even in the modern world today, they have limited civil rights as they are considered an ‘angel inside home’ (Greer 84). Moving outside is prohibited and regarded as evil. In an Islamic country, women are supposed to cover themselves with a veil and cannot interact with their opposite sex except their husbands, father, sons, and brothers. This is similar to Judith’s plight where she was not allowed to study and make her career as an author. Islamic heads use the holy Quran to enforce their regulations. Selecting a lady as a pioneer is prohibited. In any case, in the Quran, the spread is by and large used metaphorically to portray limits amidst great malice, disciples and nonbelievers. In two verses, women are encouraged to remain simple and to cover their ornaments and genitals. Men are similarly taught to maintain a plain look and to dress suitably. One verse summons the women in the prophet's family to totally shroud, to shield them from enemies and outside world. The Islamic ideal place for women in the society is conventional and radical; as it is unfair to consider women any lesser than their male counterparts.
John Stuart Mill, in his essay Subjection of Women, asserts on the equality of men and women; and credits his wife Herriot Mill for her participation in narration of the essay. He challenges the stereotypical European societies in nineteenth century, where men were considered superior to women and women were treated as subjects to them. He had an idea that his philosophy on women would be rejected but he did not compromise over his ideal of gender equality (Mill 25).
Women still do not have complete freedom even in the modern world and Eastern countries. African countries still practice female circumcision and girls suffer from severe physical and psychological pain. Similarly, some tribes in China and India still focus on enslaving women for men. The honor killing of women in the South East Asia depicts deplorable condition of women’s rights.
Even in Western world, women are still struggling for their absolute freedom. In a nutshell, literature has played its role in improving the status of women in the world but there is still enormous amount of work that needs to be done in order to bring true freedom to women, instead of sexualizing or desexualizing them. The dream of pioneers of feminism and writers shall not go unaccomplished as many sensitive groups in civil society continuously raise their voice against gender discrimination.
Works Cited
Mill, John Stuart. “On The Subjection of Women”. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications. 1971. Web. 23-26. Accessed 8 March, 2016 at
< http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1869.pdf>
Woolf, Virginia. “Shakespeare's Sister.” London. The Guardian, 2007. Web. 46-65. Accessed 8 March, 2016 at
<https://books.google.co.in/books?id=_xMSswEACAAJ>
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” Auckland: Floating Press, 1792. Print. 68-80.
Greer, Germaine. “The Whole Woman. “New York: A.A. Knopf.1999. Print. 72-99.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. “Declaration of Sentiments.” Tucson: Korea Press. 2004. Print. 33-47.
Felski, Rita. “Literature after Feminism.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2003. Print. 121-132.
