Patriarchal Research Articles

Devaluing and Revaluing Women: A Feminist Approach to Chandra Prakash Baniya's Maharani [Queen

Chandra Prakash Baniya's Maharani [Queen] is a telling tale of women's exploitation and their glass ceiling in a male dominated society. The novel depicts how women are either risen to the pedestal of ‘Goddess’ or devalued to the position of a ‘whore’, but never given a genuine respect. By aggrandizing or derogating the status of women, the patriarchal society has always subordinated, subjugated, and exploited them. The scenario of deprivation of women from attaining their rights is the main concern of the novelist. He suggests that the prevalence of biased treatment for women in every sphere - social, economic, political, literary - is rampant, and from getting secondary position to being thwarted to grow is an unfortunate fate meted out to women in this male-dominated society. Patriarchy, therefore, has become a clog in the route of women's progress. The present paper aims at exploring the pathetic condition of women in the novel, discussing how women become the victim of glass ceiling in a social labyrinth created by males. To address this objective, the study has employed feminism as a tool to examine the condition of women, especially drawing the concept of glass ceiling of women from Judith Butler to interpret the text.

The Notion of Patriarchy in the Selected Short Stories of Ruskin Bond

This paper critically examines the notion of patriarchy as depicted in selected short stories by Ruskin Bond. Through a detailed analysis of stories such as Time Stops at Shamli, Night Train at Deoli, The Woman on Platform 8, and A Face in the Dark, this review explores how Bond subtly weaves patriarchal elements into his narratives. Bond’s portrayal of patriarchal structures is often implicit, reflecting the deeply ingrained social hierarchies in Indian society. His stories provide a microcosmic view of gender dynamics, where the authority and control exercised by male figures often overshadow the agency of female characters. In Time Stops at Shamli, the story delves into the introspective journey of the male protagonist who is confined by societal expectations. The tale reflects the pervasive male dominance that shapes the destiny of the characters, subtly underscoring the role of patriarchy in controlling personal choices. Similarly, in Night Train at Deoli, the male gaze, represented through the protagonist's fascination with a young woman, reinforces traditional gender roles where women are often passive subjects of male desire and fantasy. The Woman on Platform 8 presents a departure from typical patriarchal norms, showcasing a woman who defies societal expectations by assuming a nurturing and protective role towards a stranger. However, the underlying power dynamics still reflect the male-centered worldview that permeates much of the narrative. In contrast, A Face in the Dark addresses the authority of male figures, as the interaction between a teacher and a mysterious boy echoes the control and power inherent in patriarchal systems. This review aims to explore how Ruskin Bond’s stories both conform to and challenge patriarchal norms. By drawing on thematic elements of gender, power, and control, this paper highlights Bond’s nuanced portrayal of patriarchal structures, offering readers insight into the often-overlooked aspects of gender politics in his works. Through this exploration, the paper seeks to contribute to the broader discourse on gender representation in Indian literature, especially within the context of short stories, where subtle and intimate portraits of everyday life often reveal larger societal truths.

The Performative Body in Ibsen’s A Doll House and Saput’s Sakambari: Rebelling and Reclaiming Women’s Power Dynamics

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House, directed by Bernice Garfield-Szita and Prakash Saput's Sakambari showcase a similar performative body of women, resisting the patriarchal societal system despite having existed in two distinct spatiotemporal contexts. In this light, the paper comparatively examines the performative bodies of Nora in A Doll House and Sakambari in Sakamabari to analyze how their body acts serve as a site of submission and resistance simultaneously. In doing so, the study employs qualitative methods, mainly textual analysis for visual texts, lyrics, and dialogues in a multi-modal approach, using the Butlerian concept of gender performativity, "not biology but culture," and the Foucauldian concept of body and sexuality. It examines how the performing bodies epitomize submissive and resistive agencies for autonomy and justice. Nora's and Sakambari's performative bodies in different phases – the plain, commodified, and beyond – in one way to another challenge the masculine disposition and advocate for liberation. The analysis reveals that the two characters employ contrasting approaches to resisting the existing social structure. Nora exhibits direct submission and defiance, while Sakambari explicitly submits and implicitly resists. While both of them challenge the status quo of society, the performative bodies in different layers of resistance empower them to contest patriarchal societal foundations even though their paths to liberation differ from one another.

Benazir Bhutto, Negotiating Politics amidst Misogyny: A Study of Daughter of the East

The present research paper analyzes the struggles of Benazir Bhutto as detailed in her autobiography, Daughter of the East (1987), highlighting her confrontations with political challenges, a dictatorial regime, and numerous hardships in her quest to restore and strengthen democracy in Pakistan. Bhutto navigated adverse circumstances, including male chauvinistic politics, orthodox religious ulamas, entrenched military dictatorship, and bureaucratic elitism. The paper delves into her political challenges, patriarchal social obligations, and Islamic ideological commitments, which she managed as the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan during her tenures from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996. This era is critical to understanding her efforts to extract Pakistan from military dictatorship's grip, vividly portrayed in her autobiography Her eloquent narrative not only chronicles her ascent as the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim-majority country but also encapsulates the relentless adversities she faced as a woman in a deeply patriarchal society. Bhutto's poignant reflections on her political odyssey inspired me to delve deeper into her life, illuminating her as a warrior in real sense and a paragon of female fortitude amidst a turbulent political landscape.

Colonial Narrative and Woman-Nature Dynamics in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: An Ecofeminist Critique

The paper analyzes the novella Heart of Darkness­ written by Joseph Conrad, exploring the dynamics of woman-nature intersections. The portrayal of women is characterized by a lack of agency to speak, which is aligned with the inert objectification of nature. The implication behind such (mis)representation of women and the environment by colonial narrative is to show the masculine imperial discourse as the powerful one. Together, two colonizing ideologies operate in order to domesticate both women and nature. This paper claims that ecofeminist reading of the novel challenges such domestication, exposing the nuances through the frame narrative technique and covert resistance exhibited by nature and women. The shared resemblance between woman-nature dynamics further stresses the interrelation of freedom for both. The study implies that freedom of women and the environment is interlinked. The study is qualitative and employs the textual analysis as a research tool to draw a conclusion. This paper uncovers the parallels between the treatment of gender and nature by oppressive Western colonial model, which exercises masculine dominance to locate the dynamics of women-nature intersections.

Configuration of Man’s Position within Patriarchal Structure in Nepalese Society

Patriarchy is a powerful philosophy and structure of male domination and supremacy. It is not new, nor is the recognition of women’s demoralized existence well-established patriarchal system and it embraces that there is an inferior position of women since historical period. Patriarchy is a social system in which men use, abuse, control, oppress and exploit women. The concept of patriarchy highlights the interconnection of different aspects of gender discrimination and women are often underprivileged in many areas of social existence. Theories and philosophies of patriarchy explore the division of interests between most men and women formed by the social system of gender perceptions, practices and relationships. Gender is a relationship of power and inequality and not merely of variation. There are various supplementary expressions that have extremely related meaning to patriarchy. These incorporate gender command, gender arrange, gender display and sex-gender formulation. They are comparable in pointing to the powerful interconnection of various sphere of influence of gender discrimination. Analyses of patriarchy differ as to whether men's position as head of the household and family or society or state entity is recognized as the key to their potentiality to rule and oppress, or whether the institutional features of men's supremacy are pictured and imagined. In this context, this study provides an analysis of the understanding and accepting of man's position within existing patriarchal structure in Nepalese societies inside the background of gender standpoints and different educational status. It also tries to explore the common judgments and ruling ideologies on patriarchy and its practices and social insights of gender relationships.

Challenges Faced by Women Folk Artists In: Lower Assam

ABSTRACT: The research aims to understand and assess the challenges faced by women folk artists in lower Assam. Assam is the land where people are born with the colours of their culture and stay with the aroma of their folk culture. Assamese folk culture holds the beauty of Assamese dance, music, drama and different cultural phenomenon. All the cultural practices and performances narrate the original scenario of Assamese society. Geographically Assam is divided into two parts that is: Upper Assam and Lower Assam. All these parts are culturally active and are melting their bonds with the uses and practices of their folk traditions and culture because folk culture represents the whole scenario of Assamese society. In Assam, both male and female artists perform their folk culture and they are the ones who develop their culture and maintain the traditional phenomenon. They carefully protect them as the owner of their culture so, both male and female artists play them very happily. Assam is a patriarchal society where females are always suppressed by their societal phenomenon. Also, in the culture female folk artists suffer many social and economic problems. This hampers their skills and affects their socio-cultural life and economic conditions. The objectives of the studies are as follows • To understand the concept of folk art and folk artists of Assam. • To analyze the problems of women folk artists in their socio-cultural life. In this study conclusions and suggestions are formulated based on primary data collected through the interview schedule.

Affirmative Consent is Not Enough: A Feminist Critique of the NSW Reforms and the Limits of Consent under Patriarchy

ABSTRACT On 1 June 2022, long-awaited reforms to the law of sexual consent came into force in NSW. The central feature of the amendments is the introduction of affirmative consent – a ‘yes means yes’ standard which requires positive communication for sex to be lawful. In the context of national conversation around the prevalence of sexual assault, instituting affirmative consent is an important step – but is it enough? This paper considers the NSW model and introduction of affirmative consent in the context of feminist theory, particularly the arguments raised by Catharine MacKinnon in Toward a Feminist Theory of the State. Engaging with the limits of the consent framework as a product of a liberal, patriarchal system is critical to improving the legal recognition of the spectrum of sexual assault experienced by women.

‘Manopause’: sexual response changes as a threat to ageing manhood

When men root manhood in sexual performance, their inability to get and maintain an erection (i.e. erectile dysfunction) may pose a threat to ageing men’s ability to enact masculinity. Using data from the 2015–2016 National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) – a nationally representative survey of the USA – this study finds that age and erectile dysfunction interact: men who report ‘trouble getting or maintaining an erection’ have a higher odds of reporting anxiety before sex. However, this effect gradually declines as the sample of men with erectile dysfunction ages (from ages 49 to 95). Additionally, men who do not report erectile dysfunction have the same odds of sex-anxiety throughout the sample, regardless of their age. The change in sexual performance may cause distress for men, as they feel unable to maintain their dominant masculinity in old age. While previous studies have shown that age and gender interact to affect men’s sexual health in mid-life and later-life, this study adds to the feminist gerontology literature by providing indirect evidence that changes in sexual response may become gradually less anxiety-inducing, and thereby, less threatening for men as they age.

An Analysis of Modern Women in the Novels of Anita Nair

The paper will examine the condition of women in Indian society with the assistance of acclaimed novelist Anita Nair. Women have historically faced discrimination in a male-dominated society where patriarchy plays a pivotal role in sustaining the status quo. In the past, women were expected to be perfect wives and accept the injustices around them, while lacking gender awareness and being confined to their homes. However, modern women have undergone a significant shift in mindset, with the development of their own identities, self-worth, independence, and self-esteem becoming more important than patriarchal values. Nair's novels examine the transformation of women through her female characters. She presents a picture of modern life and the issues faced by women, such as sexual exploitation, gender discrimination, cultural conditioning, and the husband-wife relationship. The paper aims to highlight the resilience of female characters while exploring gender bias against women. Additionally, the paper will showcase feminist female writers who have produced literary works that benefit society. The paper will depict their struggle in a patriarchal system and the dynamics between men and women in the Indian Diaspora.

Alienated Subjectivity in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

This article has analyzed Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar to explore the resilient personality of Esther Greenwood that exemplifies the image of nonconformist women in the patriarchal society of America. Esther has been prepared to fight against the standards of femininity induced in the personality of general women. She stands out of the crowd for her dignity. The objective of the paper has been to investigate into the characters created to reveal diverse images of women in the American society. The key finding of the research is that Esther during her professional journey undergoes diverse complications primarily created for women to suffer from and imposed upon them by the male-dominated society. She has not experienced any solace of life neither at home has nor she been satisfied in the society at large. Therefore, she feels isolated. Her alienation leads to attempting for suicide as she takes it as the way of relief and mental satisfaction. Her decision of taking her own life implies her desperation and disinterestedness in the world controlled by men. By using the concept of Betty Friedman as expressed in The Feminine Mystique, this paper has been inscribed to reflect on the confused personality of Esther.

Encountering the Strange Feminine: Failure of Partition and Masculine Hegemony in Saadat Hasan Manto’s ‘Colder Than Ice’ (‘Thanda Gosht’)

ABSTRACT Fictional narratives centred around the Partition of India in 1947 usually voice the plight of the women caused by the communal riots and hatred among religious communities. Saadat Hasan Manto, in his short story ‘Thanda Gosht’ (trans. ‘Cold Meat’), translated into English by Khalid Hasan as ‘Colder than Ice’, brings out the other side of Partition’s gendered narrative – the impact of the violent creation of borders on Indian men. Through the notion of ‘strange encounters’, the paper demonstrates the metaphoric connection between the female body and the contested land of pre-Partition India while the masculine and oppressive Ishwar, who symbolises political leaders mandating the Partition, fails to exert his supremacy as he is traumatised by the psychological repercussions of the aftermath of violence- sexual on a micro level, communal on a macro level. By critiquing the familiarity and strangeness that underscore the Self-Other binary, the essay visualises alternate paradigms of gendered nationalist encounters- how the male communalist perpetrator’s masculinity is a product of myriad privileges, his hegemonic power in a patriarchal system being one. It will also interrogate notions of shame and honour that pervade such gendered encounters underlined by violence to demonstrate how Manto’s stories subvert that discourse.

Patterns of peasant way of life in Tobolsk province in the second half of the XIXth century (on the materials of N.N. Mataev’s personal archive)

The goal of the research is to analyze the specifics of the everyday life of old-timer peasants of Tobolsk province on the basis of information collected during ethnographic fieldwork in the Tyumen region. On the basis of the involved narrative sources, such as personal diaries, memoirs, biographies and retelling of ancestral memories of the hereditary peasant N.N. Mataev, marital behavior, child-parent relations, interaction between family members in and out of the home lifehave been studied, the level of child mortality and birth rate have been analyzed, and the cultural specifics of everyday life of several generations of one family have been revealed. The collected records in the form of interviews, diaries and memoirs refer to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, i.e. to the period of active changes and transformations in the way of life of the peasant village in Russia, which determines the relevance of the research, because a thorough study of the identity of the Siberian sub-ethnos allows us to find differences in the consequences of these transformations and understand the history of Western Siberia. The principle of historicism and the civilizational approach applied allow us to observe the stages of development of new forms of family structure and the transformation of peasant life as a result of modernization. The studied ethnographic materials allow to present more fully the picture of peasant everyday life and to draw conclusions about the specific features of the life cycle of the traditional patriarchal peasant family and the community of old residents of Tobolsk province.

Quasi-Independence: Ambivalence about Autonomy among Chinese Women in Patriarchal Environments

ABSTRACT Two women from patriarchal families demonstrated similar ambivalent patterns of independence: they valued and implemented independence on concrete daily-based issues, while lacking career ambition and life objectives, which they depended on their superiors to give them. This quasi-independence phenomenon related to a particular patriarchal environment in which girls were expected to be independent and “useful” as if they had been adults since early childhood, while boys could be children. Dynamics concerning developmental issues are discussed.

The Intricacies and Prevalence of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa: Forms, Causes and Mitigation Measures

Gender-based violence (GBV) is prevalent in South Africa, primarily attributed to historical systems of social inequality, patriarchy and racism that dominated during the apartheid regimes, with lasting impacts persisting today. Thus, this study explored the intricate dynamics and prevalence of GBV in the context of South Africa. To realize this objective, the study employed a qualitative research methodology. To collect data, the study employed a secondary data technique such as a literature review of existing sources. Different datasets were used such as Google Scholar, National Institutes of Health, Google, and Scopus. The criterion employed to source information was the use of keywords which are shedding light on the social, cultural, and economic factors contributing to GBV. The study explored the root causes and manifestations of violence against women and girls. It is found that South Africa is grappling with high rates of GBV due to poverty, unemployment, cultural beliefs, and legal factors. To mitigate the prevalence and causes of GBV, efforts to combat GBV should encompass legal reforms and protection, prevention education, awareness, and NGO programmes that address the profoundness and complexity of violence against women and girls. The study has a vast potential to contribute to the production of new knowledge on forms, causes and mitigation measures for GBV. It will also contribute by addressing gaps or limitations in the existing literature on the phenomenon being studied. Keywords: Grievous Bodily Harm; Gender-Based Violence; Poverty and Unemployment, Patriarchal Systems, Legal Factors, Women, Men.

Women's contributions versus Men's patriarchal status among Afar pastoralists in the Lower Awash Valley

This study examined women's unrecognized roles in facilitating socio-economic interactions and clan networks in a patriarchal society. A qualitative research methodology was chosen. Situational observations, key interviews, and group discussions were applied as data-gathering tools. A thematic descriptive analysis method was used to examine the data that had been gathered. Accordingly, the study found that women are not participating in leading customary institutions and publicly due to the traditional patriarchal domination. However, the customary law shields women from various presumptions. It has been noted women's participation in maintaining social order, economic reciprocity, and resource sharing. Most importantly, women's continual control of household responsibilities and income-generating activities is essential to Afar society's survival. The study recommends that multifaceted interventions should be made to maintain women's role in supporting their traditional methods of engaging in maintaining clan networks. An intervention should mostly be better focused on women's activities as it will help to explore additional mechanisms that uplift either women by themselves or by the initial intervention system. Therefore, the study recommends incorporating pastoral women's roles into more extensive women's enclave empowerment policies and removing the existing sociocultural limitations to allow them to contribute more to pastoral livelihoods.

When mentally ill women become sexual preys in Zimbabwe: An African indigenous religio-cultural perspective

There is a phenomenal increase in the number of cases of women suffering from mental illness in our contemporary society, which is hard hit by pandemics. As scholarship reflects on this condition, there has been little attention paid to the impact of indigenous religion and cultural practices to the sexual and reproductive health of women with mental illness and indigenous entrepreneurs who seek economic fortunes in a post COVID-19 epoch. Largely, the Zimbabwean society detests mental illness and this has rendered mentally ill women to the social margins. However, cases of men from the mainstream society having illicit sexual intercourse with mentally ill women are rampant, both in urban and rural environments. So one can ask why men from the mainstream society are having sexual relations with the ostracised mentally ill women. Prioritizing ethical considerations, this qualitative study uses ritual theory as its theoretical framework, sociology of religion, phenomenology of religion and gendered cultural hermeneutics to explore the prevalence of these sexual practices. Data was gathered through interviews and desk research from January to December 2023. Findings of the study were that these sexual activities are ritualistic, done to enhance success in politics, business, farming and self-initiated churches. An analysis of the reasons behind the performance of these sex rituals showed that a mentally ill woman’s body is an entity which belongs to the spiritual world so the sexual relationship makes it possible for the male entrepreneur to access the spiritual world. Through these rituals, men with entrepreneurial wishes will be attempting to connect with and manipulate the spiritual world. The study concluded that mentally ill women have less choice over their sexual and reproductive lives. They are sexually exploited, yet they lack the capacity to disclose these heinous acts to the mainstream society. They are regarded by the patriarchal society as sexual preys where coercive sex and or rape are used for ritual purposes, with the intent of attaining socio-economic transformation.

Social extermination in the El Paraíso neighborhood. A structural constructivist analysis in the period 2010-2021

The article explores the results of the project "Social Extermination in the El Paraíso neighborhood: 2010 - 2021", carried out by the seedbed Esperanza en Marcha of the Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios - UNIMINUTO, Bogotá headquarters. The research focused on reflecting on the social representations of young people in the Paraíso neighborhood about the practices of social extermination that have occurred during the last ten years, based on the analysis of the categories, using the approaches of Pierre Bourdieu's structural constructivism and a qualitative methodology of narrative cut, where information gathering techniques related to semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and social cartographies were used. The research revealed the structural components of social extermination, recognizing that it originates from dominance over the youth of the neighborhood through the establishment of practices and thoughts that seek to annihilate what is different, what does not fit into the capitalist, patriarchal, and colonial system, Recognizing that this generates some affectations in the construction of identity of the young people due to the stigmatization of their place of residence and the violation of their human rights, the above is also reflected in the absence of governmental accompaniment, where finally it is the scenarios of youth resistance that make visible the situations and demand protection from community actions.

‘Yeah, embrace your anger. Fuck them.’: using feminist collaborative autoethnography and an ethics of care to (re)imagine our position as disabled women in academic spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

In this article, we argue that a Slow Feminism, which evolves through the slow but consistent support of other women that is embedded in care, compassion and constructive challenge against patriarchal expectations, is essential for the future of feminist praxis within higher education. This work emerged from our coming together to reflect-on-action on our experiences as disabled, women, postgraduate researchers in different disciplines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling ‘othered’ by and invisible to hierarchal structures, we sought to understand our individual challenges through a collective lens. Relational ethics and a praxis of care in line with feminist epistemology underpinned our systematic ‘feminist collaborative autoethnography’, whereby we critically engaged with individual reflections and together in online meetings to interpret shared social, emotional and structural challenges. In this article, we draw on our experiences sharing this data through poetry, during the stage of our collaborative project in which we utilised ‘poems’ to identify the challenges of being a disabled woman navigating higher education, and the resistance we employed individually, and collectively, in support of one another. Through this process, we challenged the neoliberal, patriarchal and oppressive systems that we are forced to engage with daily and our own complicity in them. Using our individual, collective and overlapping voices, whereby we recognise the tensions and supportive narratives created by and within our research conversations, we identify that feminist activism and feminist futures are not solely a response to extreme events.

ATTITUDE OF FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS THE PROCESS OF MATE SELECTION

Relationships are the primary bond that holds people together and one of the important relationships that people have throughout their life is their marriage. In Pakistan, choosing a mate for a female is a dynamic process that is influenced by a wide variety of circumstances, such as parental participation, the social and educational level of the spouse, among many others. The objective of current study was to know the attitude of female students of Punjab University towards the process of selecting their marriage partners. It was a quantitative study and data was collected from 268 female students of final year selected through simple random sampling. Data was collected with the help of questionnaire as tool of data collection, whereas data was analyzed statistically by applying chi square test and it was found that educational and financial status were most important variables considered by females while choosing the spouse among other factors including maturity of spouse and qualities of character. It is concluded on the basis of study findings that in a patriarchal society like Pakistan females have very little autonomy in decision making and it is recommended that awareness should be created among people to consider opinions of girls while choosing their mate so that they could be involved in the most important decision of their family life.