Is Feminism for All Women? Women in the Shadow

Abstract

In her work Feminism is for Everyone, American feminist thinker and author bell hooks, one of the iconic figures in the recent feminist movements, touches on the issue that all individuals, regardless of their sexes (men or women) can take place in the feminist movement and accordingly, she enunciates that feminism is/could be for everyone. However, the practical equivalent of this statement, which is theoretically ideal, has not been fully realized yet. In order for feminism to encapsulate everyone, first of all, no woman should be left out of the feminist spectrum. Nevertheless, due to their regional, racial, cultural, religious and individual differences, countless women in separate parts of the world have not taken part in the feminist waves. Furthermore, they could not develop a discourse about themselves and had serious problems in representing their conditions. In this study, by referring to the transformation that the feminist waves have gone through until recent time, it has been examined whether the feminist waves have struggled for all women. In order to carry out this analysis, works featuring oppressed and marginalized female characters are preferred. These selected works are: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The River Between, Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’ The Wide Sargasso Sea. These novels are examined on the grounds of the problems experienced by women. In addition, the works of Katherine Bullock and Maryam Qudrat Aseel, who convey their own experiences about marginalized women, are also included in order to support that the problems described in these novels are experienced in real life, too. On the basis of the feminist waves and their achievements, the selected works have been analyzed to what extent the female characters are included in these feminist waves, and whether these feminist movements have developed a discourse about the women represented in the novels.

Keywords

• Feminism
• Woman
• Social Norms
• Marginalizing

Feminizm Tüm Kadınlar İçin mi? Gölgede Kalan Kadınlar

Abstract

Son dönem feminist hareket içinde önemli bir yere sahip yazarlardan birisi olan Amerikalı feminist düşünür ve yazar bell hooks, Feminizm Herkes İçindir adlı kitabıyla feminist hareket içinde erkek kadın fark etmeksizin tüm bireylerin yer alabileceği üzerine bir öneri geliştirmiş ve feminizmin herkes için olabileceği fikrini öne sürmüştür. hooks’un teorik olarak ideal olan ifadesinin pratikteki karşılığı ise günümüzde tam anlamıyla gerçekleşmiş durumda değildir. Feminizmin erkekler dahil herkesi kapsıyor olabilmesi için öncelikle hiçbir kadının feminist hareketlerin dışında kalmamış olması gerekmektedir. Oysaki çeşitli nedenlerden dolayı dünyanın farklı bölgelerindeki sayısız kadın bölgesel, ırksal, kültürel, inançsal ve bireysel farklılıklarından dolayı feminist dalgalar içinde yer alamamış, kendilerine dair söylem geliştirememiş ve kendilerini tam anlamıyla temsil edememişlerdir. Bu çalışmada feminist dalgaların günümüzdeki mevcut haline kadar geçirmiş olduğu değişime değinilerek, bu dalgalar içinde gerçekleşen feminist hareketlerin tüm kadınlar için mücadele verip vermediği incelenmektedir. Bu incelemeyi gerçekleştirmek için ezilen ve ötekileştirilen kadın karakterlerin yer aldığı eserler tercih edilmiştir. Bu eserler, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’nin Yükselen Güneşin Ülkesinde, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’nun Aradaki Nehir, Mariama Ba’nın Uzun Bir Mektup, Charlotte Brontë’nin Jane Eyre ve Jean Rhys’in Geniş Sargasso Denizi adlı romanlarıdır. Bu romanlar, kadınların yaşamış oldukları sorunlar temelinde incelenmiş ve kurgu türündeki bu eserlerde anlatılan problemlerin gerçek hayatta da bizzat yaşandığını desteklemek amacıyla gölgede kalan kadınlara dair kendi tecrübelerini aktaran Katherine Bullock ve Maryam Qudrat Aseel gibi yazarların da eserlerine yer verilmiştir. Yapılan değerlendirmede, feminist dalgalar ve kazanımları dikkate alınarak, seçilen yazarların eserlerindeki kadın karakterlerin bu feminist hareketler içinde ne ölçüde yer aldığı, bu feminist hareketlerin romanlardaki kadın karakterlere ve sorunlarına dair bir söylem geliştirip geliştirmediği incelenmiştir.

Keywords

• Feminizm
• Kadın
• Toplumsal Normlar
• Ötekileşme

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