Female,

Feminine, Feminist
structure

Patriarchal

Domination/subordination Oppositional

voices - feminism

Three waves of feminism

First wave Early twentieth century Concerned with equal opportunities for women Liberal womens rights movement equity feminism Challenged the cult of domesticity Suffrage for women

 Liberal

womens movements linked with the Socialist movements- latter focused on the problems of working class women Wollstonecraft A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
woolfe A Room of ones own (1929)

Mary

Virginia Simone

de Beauvoir The Second Sex(1949)

 Second

wave feminist wave late 1960s and 1970s-Radical feminism

Protests associated with Miss America Pageant in 1968 and 1969 stockings influential radical feminist groups of the 1960s Protested against patriarchal commercialized, oppressive beauty culture

Red

 Linked

to the leftist movement in post war societies , Anti Vietnam war movements Criticized capitalism and imperialism focused on the interest of the oppressed groups Directed towards social, sexual and personal struggles inextricably linked - Personal is political politics of housework - Women as a workforce reserve motherhood and caretaking

Radical feminist believed that women could collectively empower one other.
Claim for sisterhood and solidarity despite differences Kate Millet Sexual Politics (1969) Andrienne Rich On Lies, Secrets and Silence(1980) Audre Lorde Sexism, Racism and Classicism ( 1984)

 Against

heterosexuality - compulsory institution to perpetuate patriarchy

of lesbian politics womens right to their bodies sexuality of their own from the obligation of marriage and motherhood

Rise

Disconnected

 African

American women - raised a differentiated Identity politics Feminist movements predominantly white, middle class and heterosexual feminist agenda Need to look at different feminist stand points Intersection of gender, class, race/ethnicity and sexuality

 Bell

Hooks Aint I a woman? Black Woman and Feminism (1981) Alice Walker Womanism, In Search of our Mothers Gardens : Womanist Prose (1983) Patricia Hill Collins Black Feminist Thought : Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (1990) Gayathri Chakravarthi Spivak Can the Subaltern speak? (1988)

 Differential
An

identity politics two methods

interest in understanding differences among women as constitutive A search for authenticity and continuity in womens cultures o Second wave feminism strong influence on the academia women studies departments

Latter half of second wave 1980s

Elaine Showalter A literature of their own (1977) Feminist criticism in the wilderness(1981) Feminine phase (1840-80),Feminist phase(18801920),Female phase (1920 onwards)

Against Andro- centric writings (placing male view as world view) Gyno- criticism opposite of andro-centrism

The need to delineate a space away from men.

 Anglo

American concerned with the understanding of literary texts

feminist Julia Kriesteva ,Helen Cixous ,Luce Irigary influenced by post structuralism other than literature language, representation and psychology Ecriture Feminine against male centric language

French

Language

 Symbolic

and Semiotic Symbolic closed order - conventions, cultural values patriarchal prose Semiotic subversive, free flow poetry Feminism and Freudian psychoanalysis penis envy male genitals - emblem of social power Social castration lack of social power Women delineate an equal space in society.

Third Wave of Feminism 1990s Transversal politics Performance ,mimicry, subversion- slut walks Trans - Feminism Mirrors the diversification of womens interest Right to define ones identity

Make decisions regarding ones body

Lesbianism alignment with gays homosexuals Queer Theory (focusses on mismatches btw sex and gender) distinct politics society and academia

 Social

structure caste and class nexus interlinked to gender Pre- vedic societies hunting and gathering communities men and women equal status Vedic age emergence of caste system Endogamy and female sexuality basis for the perpetuation of the caste system Women as procreators transmitters of a lineage Patriarchy and subjugation of women necessary- Womens purity synonymous with caste purity

Female sexuality pivotal role in upholding the honor and prestige of the family Women need to be controlled in the patriarchic grid kept away from public spaces. Idealization of family roles, glorifying motherhood, emphasis on female modesty The concept of pathivratha extreme devotion towards the husband Women personified as shakti incorporation of female goddess in the andro-centric framework Does not deter patriarchal norms

 Brahminical

rituals represents the patriarchal framework of castes Marriage kanya Dhan Principles of caste a clear distinction between domestic and public space Women play an important role in maintaining the sanctity and purity of the home Men pure - women intrinsically impure menstruation kept away from domestic spaces

 Widowhood

her role as procreator ceasesas a transmitter of a lineage non- utilitarian sati kept in seclusion as impure very sight - pollution Graded patriarchies Brahminical patriarchy apex Rigidities upper caste women Women castes lower in the ladder lesser restrictions widow re-marraige allowed constructed as loose in morals Vs purity of upper caste women

 Men

of the upper castes access to the lower caste men - as landlords /yajamana controlled the men and women Kerala Namboodiri and Nair women Menon Rajasthan Rajput bride takes a Daroga women to her husbands house . Daroga women and Rajput men - Khoswal Rajputs Pratiloma and Anuloma More labour force for the upper castes Devadasi system Institutionalized prostitution

Fight for womens liberation colonial administration advent of modernity - started by men Social reformers Nineteenth century- Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotiba Phule , Periyar , Subramaniya Bharathiyar Women in Nationalist movement Gandhian followers Pre independence First wave of feminist movement in India Against sati and child marriage - Womens education suffrage - traditional role as mother and wife not challenged.

Post independence lack of a unified feminist movement against dowry, bride burning- female infanticide - Telengana movement against alcholics- chipko movement protecting the environment Lack of representation of the problems of Muslim women o Post Mandal clear distinction between upper caste women and socially marginalized women o Rise of Dalit feminist movement - problems of Dalit women different from upper caste women Muslim women movement- still a distant reality

 6Th

century B.C. Buddhist Bhikkunis Therigatha Bhakti movement anti brahminical written in the vernacular - veerasaivite movement , Varkari tradition women part of the Bhakti movement Akkamma devi , Muktabai, Bahinabai, Soyrabai Meerabai devotion towards Krishna A space away from familial structures

Womens education early twentieth century journals exclusive columns for women Savitribai Phule, Pandita Ramabai Self respecters' journal Womens publishing houses kali for women Present status of women Educated, economically independent new woman Absence of radical feminism as in the west familial ties are stronger Ideological shifts ? o Residual ideologies of caste rituals?