The Rise of Womens Movements - Literature review Example

June 2, Women’s Woes all Over the World: Victimization by Gender From the 19th to the 20th century, women in different parts of the world experienced various forms of oppression because of their gender. Their patriarchal societies treat women as secondary citizens. Cultural, social class and religious differences are also additional burdens for women. Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” describes women’s conditions in the U.S. during the 1800s. Mahasweta Devi’s “Giribala” shows that social class and gender interconnect in subordinating women’s human rights in Bengal during the 1980s. Sembene Ousmane’s “Her Three Days” reflects the same story because by being poor, women are worse off than middle and upper-class women in Mali in the 1970s. These stories expose gender prejudices that are rooted in social and cultural beliefs and practices, some of which are institutionalized through legal measures. These stories show similar real historical and social context of women’s oppression across the world because of social, cultural, economic. and legal barriers to women’s access to fundamental human rights, although differences are present because of cultural and religious differences, and, at the same time, the stories’ female protagonists’ defiance against gender norms and roles also reflect the beginning shifts in women’s thinking and behaviors because of the rise of women’s movements during the 1800s in the U.S., 1980s in Bengal, and 1970s in Mali. These stories reflect real how women accept gender prejudice of their times and communities because of the social conditioning of the secondary-citizen status of women. “Story of an Hour” represents how Louise immediately recovers from her husband’s death because she realizes that she is free at last. Louise awakens to new opportunities that were denied to her because of her civil status and gender. The story is full of imagery that captures the feeling of freedom and hope. When Louise faces the window, all sorts of activity are present, such as “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life,” the “delicious breath of rain was in the air,” “ a peddler was crying his wares,” and “notes of a distant song…and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves” (Chopin par.5). Trees symbolize life that she does own before, and spring also means a new beginning. Rain is also empowering because it feels refreshing. The peddler is free, though poor, because he has his own livelihood. The song and sparrows are symbols of freedom and activity too. Louise relishes all these images because they are connected to her feelings of independence. Chopin notes that Louise feels good about the idea of living “for herself” because of the elimination of the “powerful will bending hers” (Chopin par.14). The powerful will comes from her husband who keeps her in the house as her only proper place. Louise’s social predicament because of her gender reflects accurate realities. Kathleen B. Durrer describes that, until the end of the 1800s, men dominated women socially and legally, especially because men had property rights and were breadwinners unlike women (“The Story” 99-100). Louise’s experiences of subjugation because of “blind persistence” (Chopin par.14) that makes men and women accept the patriarchal system is not fictional at all. Louise’s supreme happiness over her freedom is acceptable and real to women of her times. Two other women experience the suffering of being women. Giri suffers from the patriarchal conventions of her society. At the age of fourteen, she gets married because it is the tradition to be married off early: “a girl was only a girl” (Devi par.24-25). By saying this, Devi is saying that girls are not human beings with human rights of independence and freedom. Because Giri is poor and a woman, she has no option of education or being an independent woman at all because it was unheard of during her time for lower caste women like her. Noumbe is no better than Giri and Louise because her gender is also her burden. The importance of her three days in her life shows that her relationship with her husband is the central human relationship she has. She goes into debt, for example, because she wants to serve better meals for Mustapha than her and her children and because she wants to impress Mustapha (Ousmane par.40). To value her husband more than anything and anyone else is a product of her society that teaches girls to grow up respecting men like their fathers and giving pleasure to them as wives. In addition, Noumbe reflects the thinking of many women who embrace gender prejudice easily. When the fourth wife usurps Noumbe’s three days, she blames the wife, not the man, because her society sees men as “weaklings” who cannot resist women’s sexual traps (Ousmane par.57). Noumbe is an example of women who accept their subjugated position because of the history and society of gender oppression. These female protagonists seem to be trapped in their conditions because no one can escape being born and made as a woman. These gender prejudices are not always the same, however, because social class, religious, and cultural differences affect women’s daily experiences in these stories and real life. Louise is clearly from the middle class because her husband has a house and she has things in the house that actually gives her comfort, such as a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (Chopin par.4). These objects of comfort represent give some sense of artificial comfort also to her inner conflicts because of her lack of rights as a woman. In addition, the main symbolism of the house in the story is it shows women’s domestic roles and responsibilities. The setting of the house stands for domesticity. A literal translation, moreover, is that the house is a property that women also own through their husband. As a widow, Louise knows that she can be more than the usual wife because her husband can no longer control her life. Louise relishes in the idea of owning her days and nights. She thinks: Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin, par.19). Louise feels the social opportunities of her time as a widow. These feelings are accurate because Durrer describes that as the 1800s close, social opportunities were opening to women (“The Story” 106). She notes that, for the first time, women were being admitted into universities and being allowed to practice in professions, as medicine (Durrer “The Story” 106). Louise might be thinking of how she can be someone else aside from being a wife, as she takes advantage of these new opportunities. She wants her life to be long because, for the first time, she can make decisions for her own. She might have enough money to have this kind of life she dreams of. In addition, cultural and religious factors may have some benefit for Louise. She might be a Protestant or have a Christian religion, which means that she does not have to deal with the emotional problems of being in a polygamous marriage. Moreover, Louise does not have cultural practices where women have to pay for dowry. Instead, America is actually more progressing in terms of women’s rights in 1800s compared to Bengal and Mali (Durrer “The Story” 106). Louise, thus, has an advantage of social class and cultural/religious opportunities that other women do not have. Two other stories demonstrate that the woes of gender are made worse when women are poor. Economic problems double the challenges of women. “Giribala” shows how Giri accepts her and her daughter’s conditions as women because of social conventions. Giri grows up learning and applying the old saying: “A daughter born, To husband or death, She’s already gone” (Devi par.24). As a result, even she is married off to a drunkard with no sense of morality about his obligations as a husband and father, Giri stays with him for quite a long time for society stresses that she has no other option as a woman but stay married, especially when they are poor and they have paid their dowries. Giri also accepts the practice of paying dowry because it is common during her time, and even up to now. She accepts the idea that her daughters will suffer the same fate too of being married to strangers, after paying them. Though she wept for losing Bela and Pori to Mohan’s manipulations of her husband, she moves on because she knows that society expects girls to be sold like whores (Devi par.67). What happened to Bela and Pori are real because syndicates did attract many child brides through “arranged marriages” when they are later sold as prostitutes. Amy Risley talks about sex tourism that became active during the 1980s in Bengal and other areas where gender gap exists (187). Poor Bengali women are married first and then trafficked as prostitutes in places where men demand young girls to serve their sexual needs. What is more unfortunate is that society does not want to change the practice. Giri learns that the police and her community will not exert a real effort in finding Bela because they blame the father for taking the money and because no one truly cares in finding a poor girl bride (Devi par.93). Poverty and social apathy are additional excuses for men to further exploit women. “Her Three Days” affirms that poverty worsens a woman’s plight. Noumbe dutifully follows her gender roles, even when she thinks that it is unfair for a woman to share her husband with two or more wives (Ousmane par.25). Because of her marital roles, she sacrifices her health and financial stability just to please her husband (Ousmane par.23). Noumbe neglects her own right as a human being to take care of herself too because she has to compete with other women in making her husband happy. These women of all three stories accept their secondary-class status because of social expectations on womanhood. Women in Mali who are also poor experience the same gender difficulties as Giri in India, which cultural and religious practices worsen. Noumbe has her own house like Louise, but she also feels financial pressures like Giri. Noumbe does not ask financial support from Mustapha, even if he has a moral (not legal) obligation to feed her and their children. She even got into debt for her husband, so that “he would be more comfortable and have better meals at her place” (Ousmane par.40). Poverty means that her husband eats better while she and her children eat little. Noumbe complains of her lack of exclusive marital rights, especially when she sacrifices money and time for Mustapha. Her poverty, however, is meant to make her a better wife than others, so that she can get more of Mustapha’s love and time. Cultural practices assert that men are masters in the home and community. Polygamy is widespread in Mali because of strong patriarchal beliefs. Polygamy means that women should accept that they share husbands, husbands who are their “masters” (Ousmane par.56). Noumbe finds polygamy immoral and unfair to women. She asks why women allow themselves to be “men’s playthings” (Ousmane par.61). Women are playthings because men can replace them anytime. They are not people of value as human beings, but valuable only when young and bearing children. Noumbe becomes overly concerned then that she is getting older because of childbirth and her heart condition: “She was not old, but one pregnancy after another- and she had five children- and her heart trouble had aged her before her time” (Ousmane par.6). Caroline H. Bledsoe confirms how Mali women feel they are aging because of childbirth. Their concept is they get old because they lose muscles from childbirth (Bledsoe 221). It is ironic that women are geared to be mothers and must be passionate about it in society, but, at the same time, having many children makes them feel older, and so their husbands look for younger wives. A further exploration of Mali women’s experiences shows how culture and religion impact gender oppression. Noumbe waits for her husband for the second night because culture dictates that a good woman is a good wife. She sleeps with her make-up and good clothes and she bolts the door, so that she can personally greet her husband when he arrives: “…she would be the devoted wife, always ready to serve her husband…” (Ousmane par.47). Her husband is the most important person in her life because other Mali women do the same thing- always waiting for their husbands, serving and forgiving them promptly. Dorothea Schulz agrees that the reality of Mali women is depressing during this time and up to now, because women are expected to follow cultural norms of staying in the house and serving their men, first their fathers and brothers, then their husbands (129). Women are forever in service of men. Furthermore, polygamy is also both a cultural and religious practice. Islam allows polygamy, while Mali culture also condones it. Mali women play their polygamy game with resignation and deception. The second wife visits Noumbe to look for Mustapha. Noumbe realizes that she is rubbing it on her face that she has her karma now because once, she also stole the second wife’s three days. The visit means this: You stole those days from me because I am older than you. Now a younger woman than you is avenging me. Try as you might to make everything nice and pleasant for him, you have to toe the line with the rest of us now, you old carcass. He’s slept with someone else-and he will again. (Ousmane par. 64). Noumbe realizes how hurtful polygamy because the cycle of infidelity and lies continue from one woman to the next. Their culture accepts these practices as natural to men though, so women are forced to accept it as it is. Louise does not experience the effects of polygamy and poverty, although she may consider herself poor too because she is economically dependent on her husband. Giri does not suffer from polygamy too, though it seems that the other wife of her husband is his vices. These differences in women’s experiences underscore that women’s social class, culture, and religion can make their lives harder. Giri is different from Louise and Noumbe, however, in terms of her strong, though usually repressed, independent personality. Giri wants a piece of land of her own, so that she can have her own house. In fact, this dream is the only one she “shared” with her drunkard, irresponsible husband, Aulchand (Devi par.35). The dream of having their own land and home is common for peasant women, according to Roy Dayabati and Daẏābatī Rāẏa (219). Land is everything to these women, which explains why Giri wants to have land too. In addition, Dayabati and Rāẏa explain that women do not have property and inheritance rights compared to men (219). Giri suffers from having to wait for her husband to get land for their family because she cannot legally do this herself. In this case, she passive because she knows how little rights and opportunities are present to women of her class. Nonetheless, Giri is the kind of woman who has an independent spirit. She does not take accusations against her gender lightly. An example is when Aulchand tells Giri that the reason that she sterilized herself is so that she can be a “whore,” to which Giri violently answers that if he says “evil things” again, she will cut off the heads of her children and her head with their curved kitchen knife that she grabbed (Devi par.52). Giri is quite aggressive, unlike Louise and Noumbe who do not have the personality to make violent threats like that. Furthermore, Giri takes a revolutionary step that Louise and Noumbe have not done because she leaves her husband. The story shows how rigid cultural mindsets are when people negatively judged Giri for her independence: “What kind of woman would leave her husband of many years just like that? Now, they all felt certain that the really bad one was not Aulchand, but Giribala” (Devi par.178). Giri takes a large risk of social stigma, but it is better for her than watching another daughter sold to prostitution. Her independence in rejecting the social patriarchal system is not present in the other two stories, signifying how Giri is unique as an independent woman in Bengal. Louise and Noumbe share the same health concerns and passive personalities that contrast them with Giri. They have weak hearts, and they have different ways of coping with their subjugated conditions. For instance, Louise might rather just look at the window and imagine things, like what she did after her husband died (Chopin par.4). She will not do anything violent to herself or even to her husband, when she finally sees him alive. Instead, she dies of “joy that kills” (Chopin par.23). She would rather die than live another day of oppression. Noumbe’s best violent action is using sarcastic words and violence against objects against the house. For example, after Mustapha neglects his three days with her, when he finally visits her at the last night of the third day, she tells him that she has “quite forgotten” her three days and she must be an “unfortunate wife” (Ousmane par.109). She uses sarcasm because she cannot threaten her or her kids with a knife like what Giri did. She also threads somewhat carefully to not fully lose Mustapha’s favor. Furthermore, Noumbe also acts somewhat violently, only when she breaks the three plates that represent each day that Mustapha missed (Ousmane par. 119). Her violence is directed on objects, not on her husband, despite feeling so angry at him for not valuing her hard work for the three days of waiting for him. Giri is quite distinct in her aggressive personality which is more individual than collective because Dayabati and Rāẏa note that peasant women were generally passive, although some were already actively participating in peasant movements since the 1960s (216). It is easy to see Giri leading these peasant movements, while Louise and Noumbe are more likely to die from their health conditions and frustrations in life as women. Finally, since these stories happened across time, it can be seen that, as years went by, women’s identities evolved from being subservient to more actively aggressive in challenging gender prejudice. Louise is the picture of the ideal woman at first. When she heard the bad news that her husband has died, she wept “with sudden, wild abandonment” (Chopin par.4). She does what a woman is expected to do- to grieve for her lost master/husband. In addition, Louise dies because she cannot challenge her system yet. She cannot leave her husband without suffering from severe social criticism and challenges (“The Story” 99-100). By 1970s, in Mali, women are both accepting and questioning their social conditions. On the one hand, Noumbe and other village women joke about being co-wives and serving their husbands (Ousmane par.20-22). On the other hand, they are all aware of these pretensions about being okay with a system that reduces them to the lowest of all beings. They are swallowing their pride and dignity, but they also wonder why it has to be this way, that they are mere toys for their husbands to play and replace anytime (Ousmane par.61). Noumbe is a bit more courageous than Louise because she dares offend her husband through her sarcasm and displays of aggression. When Mustapha asks what the three plates are for, Noumbe answers: “These three plates?... Nothing. Or, rather my three days. Nothing that would interest you. Is there anything here that interests you…uncle?” (Ousmane par.117). The three men even stand up, as if their own male egos are offended (Ousmane par.118). Noumbe goes further to break the plates. She is evidently a threat to the status quo. Later on, the men leave Noumbe because she is having heart problems. One man mentions a “resolution condemning polygamy” (Ousmane par.123). This law is added to show a change in times in Bengal. Indeed, during this period, Bengal is experiencing peasant activism for better policies (Dayabati and Rāẏa 216). Noumbe represents a shift in thinking about women’s roles in society. Finally, Giri is in the 1980s, where other countries have already attained anti-discrimination laws. As member of lower caste, Giri cannot change her social status. However, she is strong enough to oppose and reject the patriarchal system. She leaves his husband and brings her children with her. Her society is not willing to accept her actions yet, so people are left thinking that she is the one who is “really bad,” not her husband, because gender prejudice relieved their “troubled minds” (Devi par.178). Giri does not mind these social criticisms: “She just kept walking” (Devi par.180). Her courage will serve as the model for other women who would no longer accept the legal and social circumstances of womanhood. Giri represents the first stage of women empowerment- the decision for independence despite social conventions. These three stories reflect the reality of gender oppression because as women, Louise, Giri, and Noumbe experience women’s woes of being secondary-class citizens who are playthings and servants of their husbands. Social class, culture, and religion increase women’s burdens when they add gender norms and expectations that further limit women’s civil rights and freedoms. Sources showed that these experiences and identities were realistic for their times. These women are as real as women of their periods. Nevertheless, these stories also represent a revolution. The gender revolution starts from 1800s and intensified during the 1980s for places like Bengal that have yet to fight for women’s equal rights. Giri is the first call of the revolution. She is alone at first, but soon, others will follow, for behind her are the spirits of Louises and Noumbes who are ready to be free and yearning to be as powerful as men. Works Cited Bledsoe, Caroline H. Contingent Lives: Fertility, Time, and Aging in West Africa. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2002. Print. Chopin, Kate. “Story of an Hour.” Discovering the Many Worlds of Literature: Literature for Composition. Eds. Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. 255-257. Print. Devi, Mahasweta. “Giribala.” Discovering the Many Worlds of Literature: Literature for Composition. Eds. Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. 770-785. Print. Dorothea, Schulz. Culture and Customs of Mali. California: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print. Ousmane, Sembene. “Her Three Days.” Discovering the Many Worlds of Literature: Literature for Composition. Eds. Stuart Hirschberg and Terry Hirschberg. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. 395-406. Print. Risley, Amy. “Trafficking and the International Market in Women and Girls.” Women and Politics Around the World: A Comparative History and Survey, Volume 2. Eds. Joyce Gelb and Marian Lief Palley. 179-198. California: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print. Roy, Dayabati, and Daẏābatī Rāẏa. Rural Politics in India: Political Stratification and Governance in West Bengal. New York: Cambridge U P, 2014. Print. “The Story of an Hour.” Close Readings: Analyses of Short Fiction (2001): 86-112. Literary Reference Center. Web. 31 May 2014. Read More