Ever since the dawn of civilization, there has been a struggle to liberate women from male oppression. History is replete with the stories of suffering women. Literature across the world is full of women who bring about a change in the society. Legal, economic, and social restrictions on the basic rights of women have existed in all civilizations. Feminism originates with the thought that the society does not treat men and women equally. The term ‘feminism’ is western but the issue of patriarchal control in society is universal. Feminism seeks to discover and change deep seated causes of women’s subjection by directly attacking patriarchal thought, social organisation and looks forward to a rebalancing of the social, economic and political power between women and men. It is true that ‘literature lenses the reality of society’. Feminist literature in English is certainly not a recent innovation. It has its existence ever since perspectives of life were written …show more content…
During the nineteenth century the influence of feminist movement has made profound impact on the status of the woman. Eventually women have begun stepping out of the traditional boundaries. This new phase of society considers woman the director and moulder of the society. Women have realised that their foremost duty is not merely to please and obey men, but also to lead a life of dignity and equality. The patriarchal fabric of the society has started thinning out.
To a great extent, feminism in Indian English literature is like the feminism in literature of other countries of the world. However, it cannot be called the replica of the Western feminist literature. While the ideas of feminism were repressed in the writings of the Western women prior to the attempts made by Virginia Woolf and Simone De Beauvoir in the twentieth century, in India, women’s writing from the Sixth Century B.C are flooded with seeds of