Women's Rights and Empowerment

In order for oppression and racism to occur, there must be an "other" created that is deemed necessarily inferior to the oppressor. As Windschuttle maintains, "The construction of identity in every age and every society involves established opposites and �others.' This happens because the development and maintenance of every culture require the existence of another different and competing alter ego" (31). In the literature of El Saadawi, Head, and Abu-Khalid, we see that minority female authors often lend a "voice" 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 "other" in their own culture by men. Each of these minority female authors attempt to champion women's rights for women in their respective cultures in a different manner. This analysis will discuss how each author champions women's rights in El Saadawi's A Modern Love Letter, Head's The Collector of Treasures, and Abu-Khalid's Mother's Inheritance.

In Nawal El Saadawi's 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 "letter", the author is attempting to champion women's rights and

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es of such people, Head is attempting to give their struggles toward greater understanding a voice. However, Head's tale of Dikeledi and her husband Garesego stands in stark contrast to El Saadawi's letter of love. If El Saadawi is trying to champion women's empowerment and women's rights through greater understanding and deeper interconnection, Head's 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, "You defile life, Garesego Mokopi. There's nothing in your world but defilement" (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 husband's 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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