Women's Rights and Empowerment
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In order for oppression and racism to occur, there must be an ôotherö created that is deemed necessarily inferior to the oppressor. As Windschuttle maintains, ôThe construction of identity in every age and every society involves established opposites and æothers.Æ This happens because the development and maintenance of every culture require the existence of another different and competing alter egoö (31). In the literature of El Saadawi, Head, and Abu-Khalid, we see that minority female authors often lend a ôvoiceö to their characters in order to provide a contrasting image and identity of their respective people than is generally perpetrated of them by dominant cultures. However, we see in each work that women are typically turned into the ôotherö in their own culture by men. Each of these minority female authors attempt to champion womenÆs rights for women in their respective cultures in a different manner. This analysis will discuss how each author champions womenÆs rights in El SaadawiÆs A Modern Love Letter, HeadÆs The Collector of Treasures, and Abu-KhalidÆs MotherÆs Inheritance. In Nawal El SaadawiÆs A Modern Love Letter, the author fashions a love letter to her beloved. In so doing, she is making an effort to prove that women have understanding and intellect and are as dissatisfied with many of the unanswered questions about life as men. In this ôletterö, the author is attempting to champion womenÆs rights and
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es of such people, Head is attempting to give their struggles toward greater understanding a voice. However, HeadÆs tale of Dikeledi and her husband Garesego stands in stark contrast to El SaadawiÆs letter of love. If El Saadawi is trying to champion womenÆs empowerment and womenÆs rights through greater understanding and deeper interconnection, HeadÆs tale posits the notion that the only reaction possible to empower women in a violent and abusive environment dominated by men is one of violence and abuse. Garesego is incapable of ever being anything to Dikeledi than a destructive anchor around her soul and freedom. As Paul tells Garesego during one heated exchange, ôYou defile life, Garesego Mokopi. ThereÆs nothing in your world but defilementö (Head 37). Dikeledi tolerates her abusive husband until she sees the relationship shared between her friend Kenalepe and her husband. Once she understands that love can be the beautiful thing she suspects, where men treat women with love and respect, she can no longer tolerate her husbandÆs abuses. Despite knowing she will go to jail, she castrates her husband.
The castration act results in liberation for Dikeledi. She has endured abuse and remained strong, despite the oppressive
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Some common words found in the essay are:
El Saadawi, Abu Khalid, Mokopi ThereÆs, El SaadawiÆs, Bessie Head, Head Abu-Khalid, Love Letter, Collector Treasures, Dikeledi Dikeledi, Empowerment Introduction, el saadawi, womenÆs rights, el saadawiÆs, world literature boston, houghton mifflin company, modern love, geok-lin lim, spencer eds, champion womenÆs, literature boston ma, eds world, ma houghton mifflin, lim spencer, boston ma houghton, literature boston,
Approximate Word count = 2105
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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