Ferministic Perspectives in Shashi Deshpande Novels
Feministic Perspectives in Selected Novels of Shashi Deshpande’s with reference to That Long Silence, The Dark Holds No Terror and The Binding Vine
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER – I
Feminism
The term ‘feminism’ has its origin from the Latin word ‘femina’ meaning ‘woman’ (through French ‘feminisme’), and thereby refers to the advocacy of women’s rights, status and power at par with men on the grounds of ‘equality of sexes’. In other words, it relates to the belief that women should have the same social, economic and political rights as men. The term became popular from the early twentieth century struggles for securing women’s suffrage or voting rights (the suffragette movement) in western countries and the later well organized socio-political movement for women’s emancipation from patriarchal oppression. Feminism is the name given to a political movement that gathered momentum in 1960’s giving a call for ‘liberation’ of women from certain forms of gender based discriminations that deprived women of the opportunities for self-promotion and equality men simply because they were women. It refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism looks into the relationship between men and women with a new insight especially with regard to the accepted or desirable gender roles. Besides, the important foci of feminism are the revisionary reinterpretations of writings by men and their effects on women, representations of women in the texts, texts by women and women’s portrayals of men and their responses or reactions to the
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER – I
Feminism
The term ‘feminism’ has its origin from the Latin word ‘femina’ meaning ‘woman’ (through French ‘feminisme’), and thereby refers to the advocacy of women’s rights, status and power at par with men on the grounds of ‘equality of sexes’. In other words, it relates to the belief that women should have the same social, economic and political rights as men. The term became popular from the early twentieth century struggles for securing women’s suffrage or voting rights (the suffragette movement) in western countries and the later well organized socio-political movement for women’s emancipation from patriarchal oppression. Feminism is the name given to a political movement that gathered momentum in 1960’s giving a call for ‘liberation’ of women from certain forms of gender based discriminations that deprived women of the opportunities for self-promotion and equality men simply because they were women. It refers to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights, legal protection for women and/or women's liberation. Feminism includes some of the sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women's rights and interests. Nancy Cott defines feminism as the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a socially constructed concept. Feminism looks into the relationship between men and women with a new insight especially with regard to the accepted or desirable gender roles. Besides, the important foci of feminism are the revisionary reinterpretations of writings by men and their effects on women, representations of women in the texts, texts by women and women’s portrayals of men and their responses or reactions to the