Feminist

Criticism
Christian Anthony B. Anog
Content Outline:

01 03
Brief History of Limitations of the
Feminist Criticism Approach

02 04
Strengths of the Literary Piece
Approach
 “
“One is not born a
woman; rather, one
becomes a woman.”

— Simone de Beauvoir, The

Second Sex
01
Brief History of
Feminist
Criticism
Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the
general movement to empower
women worldwide.
- It is the extension of feminism into
theoretical
discourse.
or philosophical Feminist
- It aims to understand the nature of
gender inequality.
T h e o ry
- Feminists fight for the equality of
women and argue that women
should share equally in society’s
opportunities and scarce resources.
Feminist Criticism

Feminist criticism is the literary

and critical theory that explores
the bias in favor of the male
gender in literature, and which
reexamines all literature from a
feminist point of view.
Feminist Criticism
Feminist Criticism has two basic premises:

1. Women presented in literature by male writers

from male point of view.

2. Women presented in writing of female writers

from female point of view.

Feminist Criticism aims to understand the nature of

inequality and focus on analyzing gender equality
and the promotion of women’s right.
Feminism

● In broad definition: it is women’s

movement in 1960s to struggle for
the equality of rights as social class.
● In literature: feminism is related to
the ways in understanding literary
works, in both production and
reception.
The Terms

• Feminist: a political position

referring to a woman striving for an
equality of right.
• Female: a matter of biology.
• Feminine: a set of cultural
characteristics given by the society.
History of Feminism

• Early Feminism
• First Wave Feminism
• Second Wave Feminism
• Third Wave Feminism
Early Feminism
• One of the earliest feminist writings is Mary Wollstonecraft’s
Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) in which she criticizes
stereotypes of women as emotional and instinctive and argues that
women should aspire to the same rationality prized by men.
Wollstonecraft believed that women should enjoy social, legal, and
intellectual equality with men.
• John Stuart Mill’s essay on the Subjection of Women (1869) is a
defense of gender equality in which he attacks the idea that women are
naturally incapable of doing things that men can do, and should,
therefore, be forbidden from doing them.
First Wave Feminism
Historical Content
Women widely are considered to be:
• Intellectually inferior.
• Physically weak.
• Emotional, intuitive, irrational.
• Suited to the role of wife and mother.
• Women could not vote.
• They were not educated at school/universities and could only work in
manual jobs.
• A married woman’s property and salary were owned by her husband.
First Wave Feminism

• Rape and physical abuse are legal within marriage.

• Divorce available to men but far more difficult to women.
• Women had no right to their children if they left a marriage.
• Abortion was illegal.
First Wave Feminism

• First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity

during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United
Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
• The key concerns of First Wave Feminists were education,
employment, the marriage laws, and the plight of intelligent
middle-class single women.
First Wave Feminism

• Over all goal: to improve the legal position for women in

particular to gain women the vote.
• Basic assumption: Men and women have separate,
biologically determined roles and duties in society. Women
work in the private sphere (the home), men in the public
sphere.
• Active until the First World War I
Second Wave Feminism
Historical Background
• Women could attend school and university.
• Women did not receive equal pay for the same work.
• It was easier to gain a divorce but socially frown upon.
• Rape and physically abuse within marriage were illegal but
husbands were rarely convicted.
• Abortion was still illegal.
• Women’s body were objectified in advertising.
Second Wave Feminism

• The second wave of feminism which occurred in 1960-

1980, came as a response to the experiences of women after
World War II.
• It dealt with inequality of laws and pioneered by Betty
Friedan.
• Women achieved championed abortion rights, reproductive
freedom, and other women’s health issues.
Third Wave Feminism

Historical Content
• Women seem to be more equal to men.
• Women are no longer obligated to marry or have children,
and marriage is more equal.
• The legal system is better at protecting women’s right.
Third Wave Feminism
• Third wave feminism was a continuation and response to the
perceive failures of the second wave.
• The movement that called as young feminist emphasizing
collective action to effect changes and embrace the diversity
represented by various feminisms.
• They focused on a multicultural emphasis and strived to address
problems stemming from sexism, racism, social class inequality
and homophobia.
02
Strengths of the
Approach
• Finally examines how women and
men are represented and deals with the
importance of women in literature.
• Women have been somewhat
underrepresented in the traditional
canon; a feminist approach to literature
helps redress this problem.
• Made the role of women and gender
relations visible – in sociology and
society in general.
• Have exposed the problems faced by
women expressed in literature.
03
Weaknesses of
the Approach
• If this is the only theory applied to a
text/book, it can be limiting (only looks at
one thing about the text).

• Feminist critics turn literary criticism into a

political battlefield and overlook the merits
of works they consider “patriarchal.”

• Overlooks the oppression and exploitation

faced by certain men.
04 Literary Piece
Questions for Analysis
1. How are women’s lives portrayed in the work?

2. Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?

3. How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved?

4. Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?

5. How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality
with men?

6. What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations have?

7. What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations have?

8. If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice versa)?

9. How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness?
“Feminism is the radical notion that
women are people.”
- Marie Shear
Thanks
Do you have any questions?

E-mail: xtiananthonyanog@gmail.com

Saint Paul University Philippines

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