20th Century English Literature
- It is a course that includes prose, poetry, and drama written in English in United Kingdom in the 1900s.The century was a period of great artistic change, and is dominated by the impact of World War I (1914–18) and World War II (1939–45), as well as by the artistic concerns of modernism (which affected both themes and methods of writing).
- Throughout this page, we will be discussing about the course itself and how it had influenced us. We will focus on the feminist movement of the 20th Century English Literature. Later on, we will take the discussion to the next level by looking it from Islamic perspectives.
Definition of Feminism
Movements aimed at establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women.
The Concepts
- Overlap with those of women's rights.
- Some people argue that gender is a social construction that harms all people; feminism thus seeks to liberate men as well as women.
- Feminists—that is, persons practicing feminism—can be persons of either sex.
The Emergence
- Emerged from these feminist movements and includes general theories and theories about the origins of inequality, and, in some cases, about the social construction of sex and gender, in a variety of disciplines.
- Feminist activists have campaigned for women's rights—such as in contract, property, and voting—while also promoting women's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy and reproductive rights. They have opposed domestic violence,sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
- In economics, they have advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay and opportunities for careers and to start businesses.
- The movements and theoretical developments were historically led predominantly by middle-class white women from Western Europe and North America, but, since then, more women have proposed additional feminisms.
A Brief History of Feminism
- Feminist movement: coined by Hubertine Auclert in 1880s
- 1895: included in the Oxford Dictionary
- Divided into three "waves" that deal with different aspects of the same feminist issues.
- The first wave - Late 19th C through early 20th C especially in Europe, which dealt mainly with suffrage, working conditions and educational rights for women and girls. It was concluded after women had the right to vote
- The second wave (1960s-1980s) dealt with the inequality of laws, as well as cultural inequalities and the role of women in society. The most controversial demands were no need of marriage,free sex and reproductive rights.
- The third wave of feminism (late 1980s-early first decade of the 21st century), is seen as both a continuation of the second wave and a response to the perceived failures. In this stage, feminism has evolved to a larger movement resulting in many divisions with different ideologies.
