Feminism- The Western Concept
 

Every nation has its own creative, artistic, literary and critical turn of mind. Nations' culture and social standard can be reflected through Literature. Analysing a piece of literature in several ways need to apply relevant critical theories. One of the most vibrant theories today to interpret any piece of literature is the feminist point of view. Its strength lies in its ability to uncover and challenge gender biases and power dynamics embedded within texts, both old and new.

Core principles:

Power and representation: Feminist criticism views literature as reflecting and shaping social structures, particularly the power dynamics between men and women. It analyses how female characters are portrayed, how gender roles are constructed, and how these representations contribute to or challenge existing power structures.

Challenging the patriarchy: It critically examines the assumptions and values of a patriarchal society, uncovering sexism, discrimination, and marginalization of women. This critique extends beyond individual characters to the language, symbolism, and narrative itself.

Multiple perspectives: Recognizing the diversity of women's experiences, feminist criticism avoids a monolithic approach. It incorporates various feminist theories, from intersectionality to queer theory, to analyses how race, class, sexuality, and other factors intersect with gender in shaping women's lives and their representation in literature.

Recovery and rediscovery: It actively seeks to unearth and celebrate the works of marginalized women writers throughout history. This not only expands the literary canon but also offers alternative perspectives and voices that challenge traditional narratives.

Benefits of this approach:

Deeper understanding: By applying a feminist lens, we gain a richer understanding of the complexities of gender and its impact on various characters and situations within a text.

Critical thinking: It encourages questioning and challenging implicit assumptions about gender roles and representations, promoting critical thinking and awareness of societal biases.

Celebrating diversity: It recognizes and values the diverse experiences of women, fostering a more inclusive and representative literary landscape.

Empowering narratives: Feminist analysis can highlight stories of female resistance, resilience, and agency, offering empowering narratives that inspire and challenge readers.

 

Well as such the world is organized on the concept of imbalance by patriarchy. The powerful people dominate the powerless, the haves rule over the have-nots, men establish control over women. Most of the societies across the globe are patriarchal. In patriarchy, women have been suppressed, oppressed and considered like a consumer object for over the centuries. The 19th and 20th centuries saw awakening of woman consciousness through popular socio-politico-literary movements. Authors have been trying to portray a realistic picture of social and family structures across the world in their respective texts.

 

Recent literary works project women revolting against their traditional secondary status in family and society. These and the past works have to be analysed from feminist perspectives applying various views and theories

within feminism. The importance of taking into account the development of notion feminism, historically famous theories in feminism are raised in order to acquaint and to apply to any literary text.

 

Women’s struggle against social oppression has a long history, but the Feminist literary theory as a specific, organized school of critical practice has flourished out of the self-conscious, Eurocentric literary-cultural movement of women writers and critics during the 1960s against discrimination and oppression of women in patriarchal social system and their naturalized representation in mainstream, canonical literature and art.

 

While organized feminist theory in literature took off in the 1960s, women writers and thinkers long challenged patriarchal norms and limitations. Figures like Christine de Pizan in the 15th century and Mary Wollstonecraft in the 18th century questioned societal structures and advocated for women's rights.

 

Christine de Pizan and Mary Wollstonecraft: Early Advocates for Women's Rights

While the term "feminism" wasn't formally used until much later, the voices of Christine de Pizan in the 15th century and Mary Wollstonecraft in the 18th century stand out as remarkable examples of early women challenging societal structures and advocating for their rights. Here's a closer look at their contributions:

Christine de Pizan (1364-c. 1430): A well-educated writer and advisor to the French royal court, Christine faced discrimination within the male-dominated literary sphere.

Key works:

"The Treasure of the City of Ladies" (1405): This allegorical work defends women against negative portrayal in literature and argues for their intellectual capacity and moral strength. Christine assembles a "City of Ladies" populated by historical and fictional women of achievement, demonstrating female excellence in various fields.

"The Book of the Three Virtues" (1405): This educational treatise outlines moral and intellectual virtues necessary for women to navigate their roles in society and contribute meaningfully.

Considered a precursor to feminist thought, Christine's work challenged prevailing views of women and advocated for their education, intellectual engagement, and social contributions.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): A writer and philosopher involved in the Enlightenment, Wollstonecraft championed human rights and social justice, including women's equality.

Key works:

"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792): This groundbreaking work critiques the way women were educated and raised, arguing that their supposed intellectual inferiority stemmed from societal limitations, not inherent nature. Wollstonecraft advocated for equal access to education for women, believing it would cultivate their reason and enable them to become virtuous and independent citizens.

"Thoughts on the Education of Daughters" (1787): This work addresses the shortcomings of female education, advocating for a curriculum that fosters intellectual inquiry, moral principles, and practical skills to prepare women for meaningful lives.

Wollstonecraft's work provided a philosophical basis for future feminist movements, challenging the existing social order and demanding equal rights and opportunities for women based on reason and justice.

Together, de Pizan and Wollstonecraft, though separated by centuries, laid the groundwork for future feminist thought and activism. Their work highlights the persistent need to challenge gender inequalities and advocate for women's rights throughout history.

As such the concept of Feminism, in general, has been concerned to an analysis of the trend of male domination in the society; the general attitude of male towards female; the exploitation and discrimination faced by females; the need for and ways of improving the condition of women; and, so on.

This literary movement focuses on:

How literature both reflects and challenges gender discrimination.

Why there are fewer celebrated female writers than male writers.

How male and female writers portray gender discrimination differently.

The interplay between social conditions and literature in shaping ideas about gender.

In simpler terms, this movement examines how literature can preserve or fight against unfair treatment based on gender, why there's an imbalance in recognition between male and female authors, how each gender approaches the topic in their writing, and how society and literature influence each other in shaping views on gender roles.

 

The concept got proper identification in the literary field during 1960s. Before that, feminism was limited to the authorship of female writers and the representation given to women in literature with the help of female characters. Naturally woman is born free, but certain man-made social norms chained her. These chains are obvious in the world of woman. Until 20th century, most of the British literature was written by male writers, and female characters were projected through male perspective. There were very few female writers and Pseudonyms were used by female writers assuming males like Bronte sisters, George Eliot and others.

In the wake of the 20th century Virginia Wolf addressed the issue of female domination by the men: “For we have to ask ourselves, here and now, do we wish to join that (academic) procession, or don’t we? On what terms shall we join that procession? Above all, where is it leading us, the procession of educated men? ”(Woolf: 1963 pp.62-63)

Challenging the status quo: Woolf does not just simply advocate for women joining the academic procession. She asks crucial questions that challenge the very foundation of this established system.

Active choice and agency: By posing the question "do we wish to join?", Woolf emphasizes the importance of women consciously choosing their path rather than passively accepting the existing male-dominated model.

Terms of engagement: She urges women to critically evaluate the "terms" under which they would participate. This implies the need to question and potentially change the existing rules, structures, and power dynamics within academia to truly include women on equal footing.

Scrutiny of the direction: The most insightful part of the quote lies in the final question: "where is it leading us, the procession of educated men?". This prompts readers to critically examine the goals, values, and outcomes of the current academic path. This is not just about women joining the system, but about questioning the system itself and potentially shaping it into something more inclusive and just.

Woolf's perspective can be interpreted in several ways:

Rejection of the male model: Perhaps she suggests that blindly joining the existing patriarchal system reinforces inequalities. Instead, women should create their own alternative paths to knowledge and scholarship.

Reform from within: Woolf could be implying that women need to enter the academic sphere but actively work to change its practices, curriculum, and power dynamics from within.

Need for diverse perspectives: Her questions highlight the importance of incorporating diverse voices and perspectives, including those of women, to enrich and broaden the scope of academic discourse.

Ultimately, Woolf's statement prompts us to critically reflect on the limitations of existing power structures and imagine alternative possibilities for creating a more inclusive and equitable intellectual landscape.

 

Feminist writing and literature: A simplified explanation

Before the 1960s:

Men mostly defined the roles and status of women.

Women had limited rights and opportunities.

Change began with:

The fight for women's suffrage (right to vote) in the early 20th century.

This sparked awareness and hope for addressing women's issues.

While many problems remain:

Women have gained more rights and freedoms, like voting.

Many continue to fight for full equality and address ongoing issues.

The movement:

Gained momentum in the 1960s, with new organizations and protests.

These groups demanded justice and equal rights for women.

Influential feminist writers like Germaine Greer and Kate Millet inspired rebellion against oppression.Feminist writing and literature emerged in the 20th century as women fought for equality and challenged traditional gender roles. While progress has been made, the movement continues to work towards a fairer and more just society for all.Feminist approach is considered the only path to attract the world's attention to the injustice done to women. Feminist movement grew after the year 1960s, although, the origin of feminism can be traced back to the earlier period in France and Netherlands in 1872 and in Britain in 1890.

 

Rise of Feminism

Originally, feminism was a literary trend and then it became socio-political movement. Feminism rose as a result of these events. The theory was western in 1960s and 1970s after that it gained its global significance. The essential issues in feminism were: What does female want? Who is the real feminist? These questions are the most dominant within feminism.

 

The leading Anglo-American feminist critic was Showalter, American literary critic and teacher ( born 1941)  mentioned the main interests in traditional critical concepts like characterization, motifs and theme. Some critics like Derrida believed that the real world is not presented in the literary texts.

Elaine Showalter and traditional critical concepts:

Elaine Showalter is a prominent feminist literary critic known for her contributions to gynocriticism, which focuses on analyzing literature written by women from a feminist perspective. While advocating for gynocriticism, Showalter acknowledged the value of traditional critical concepts like characterization, motifs, and theme.

She argued that these concepts could be reinterpreted and applied from a feminist lens to provide deeper insights into women's experiences and representations in literature.

 

Works

Showalter developed her doctoral thesis into her first book, A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing (1977), a pioneering study in which she created a critical framework for analyzing literature by women. Her next book, The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830–1980 (1985), was a historical examination of women and the practice of psychiatry. She also wrote Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle (1990); Sister’s Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women’s Writing (1991); Hystories: Historical Epidemics and Modern Culture (1997), a controversial exploration of the history of mass hysteria; Inventing Herself: Claiming a Feminist Intellectual Heritage (2001), which follows the evolution of the feminist intellectual from the 18th to the 21st century; Teaching Literature (2003); Faculty Towers: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents (2005), an analysis of the academic novel and its relation to real-world institutes of higher education; and A Jury of Her Peers (2009), a survey of women’s writing in the United States from its origins through the 1990s. The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe (2016) is a biography about the American author. Showalter also edited several volumes, including The New Feminist Criticism (1985) and Daughters of Decadence: Women Writers of the Fin de Siècle (1993).

Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004) and the deconstruction of reality:

Jacques Derrida, an Algerian-born French philosopher, is associated with deconstruction, a philosophical approach that challenges traditional notions of meaning and representation. Derrida argued that texts are not transparent windows to a pre-existing reality but rather constructed through language and subject to multiple interpretations. In this context, he might suggest that literary texts do not simply "present" the real world but rather offer complex and potentially unreliable representations that are shaped by the author's perspective, language choices, and the historical context.

Reconciling these viewpoints:

Showalter and Derrida represent different, but not necessarily conflicting, approaches to literary criticism. While Showalter emphasizes the importance of analyzing specific elements within texts (like characterization), Derrida focuses on the broader question of how meaning is constructed and interpreted.

 

Feminist critics can engage with both perspectives by using traditional concepts to analyze representations of gender in texts while also acknowledging the inherent complexities and limitations of literary representation. The condition of women in society, in general, got expression through the situations faced by fictional female characters and their responses to these situations. The adoption of the concept by literature in a formal manner led to the study of all the aspects of human life; like social, cultural, educational, professional and financial; with an intent to expose the intentional and unintentional efforts of the society to maintain or intensify the effects of patriarchal superiority. The evolution of feminism as a literary movement could be divided into following stages:

 

First-wave feminism, which led from the 18th century until World War II and was centered on securing basic civil rights to vote and to own property;

British novelist Virginia Woolf is arguably the most significant writer associated with the First-Wave Feminism which, however, predates and prepares the ground for the more rigorous and theory-oriented Second-Wave Feminism of the 1960s and 1970s. Avoiding for herself the tag of a “feminist”, Woolf claims gender-identity to be a relative and reversible social construct, and promulgates the notion of “androgyny” as a gender-neutral sexual ethic that should be adopted in all literary as well as socio-economic discussions. She also advocates for an exclusive, self-conscious writing practice by women that would explore female experience in its own interest. The other most influential figure associated with this wave of feminism is Simone de Beauvoir whose book The Second Sex (1949) distinguishes between sex and gender, marking the latter as a socio-political imposition, and critiques the varied forms of subjugation and oppression of women in patriarchal social system. Her journal Questions féministes (1977-‟80) marks the shift from the first wave towards the second wave of feminist literary movement.

 

Second-wave feminism, which lasted from the end of World War II until the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 1980s and centered on achieving equality in the workplace, protecting reproductive choice, and attempting to pass the ERA .

 The Second-Wave Feminism, originated and developed chiefly in France and America, is more rigorously theoretical in its conceptualizations of feminine experience, sexual difference and the politics of reproduction in the domain of literature. Such critics as Kate Millett, Julia Kristeva, Elaine Showalter, Hélène Cixous, Germaine Greer, Toril Moi and Luce Irigaray seek to theorize, in different ways, the nuances and impacts of sexual difference on basis of biology, experience, discourse, the unconscious psyche, and socio-economic conditions. The feminist critics of this phase frequently resort to Marxist, Freudian, Lacanian and Foucauldian discourses to substantiate their own arguments against patriarchal hegemony and conditioning of women.

Kate Millett‟s seminal book Sexual Politics (1970) describes patriarchy as “a political institution”, and locates the cause of women‟s oppression in economic inequality and systematic indoctrination enforced by prevalent patriarchal practices of conditioning and socialization through which certain masculine values and conventions are normalized so as to shape feminine experiences accordingly.

 

Hélène Cixous in her celebrated essay „The Laugh of the Medusa‟ (1976) propounds the notion of écriture féminine as an exclusively feminine discourse for positive representation of femininity by subverting the phallogocentric/masculine symbolic language and creating new identities for women. According to Cixous, formulation of écriture féminine necessitates women to put their bodies into their writing, to write freely about their female experiences in ways of their own, ignoring and refuting the grammatical, semantic, ethical and axiomatic constructs and norms of the phallogocentric language.

 

Other significant books pertaining to the Second-Wave Feminist Criticism are: Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1975) by Juliet Mitchell, The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, and Sexual/Textual Politics (1985) by Toril Moi.

 

Third-wave feminism, which incorporates racial justice, LGBT rights, and class oppression into the feminist worldview and seek real, practical equality for all women.

What is often designated as the Third-Wave Feminism refers to the more socially and politically oriented form of feminist movement in the USA during the 1990s. It has little to do with literature and criticism, and differs from the first two waves of feminist movement in its sole emphasis on such social issues as intersectionality, sex positivity, gender-equality, women empowerment, rape and sexual harassment. Principal activists of this phase of feminist movement are: Rebecca Walker, Anita Hill, Jennifer Baumgardner and Eve Ensler.

 

Feminist criticism has been concerned not only with the depiction of women and men in a male-determined literary canon and with female responses to these images but also with another topic, women’s writing. Women have had fewer opportunities than men to become writers of fiction, poetry, and drama but even when they have managed to write, men sometimes have neglected their work simply because it had been by a woman.

 

Feminist have further argued that certain forms of writing have been especially the province of women-for instance journals, diaries, and letters; and predictably, these forms have not been given adequate space in the traditional, male-oriented canon.

 

Two most prominent figure in any discussion of the powerful defense of women’s struggle for equality are;

 

i)             John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women(1869) and,

ii)           Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women(1792).

 

Both books revealed the utter injustice in keeping women oppressed by advancing arguments that were essentially biased and exposed the pretentious nature of social constructions. Mill believed that ‘the liberty of the individual is absolutely necessary for the development of the society’ and viewed that women’s freedom as an essential condition. He pled led for their right to enter any profession or trade and their right to vote. Mill regarded family as a corrupting influence rendering girls miserable and abject the boys selfish. Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest crusades for the emancipation of women devoted all her life and energies to protest against institutions that crushes women’s identity. She strongly put forward that women were exploited and victimised everywhere by virtue of their sex which was sought to be supported by gender-biased men construction of false scholarly pleas. On her ideas it is not difficult to find influences of the thoughts of William Godwin, a radical thinker whom she married and John Locke whose commitment to reason and ‘natural behaviour’ gave strength to her opinions.

The third significant work is Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own which constitutes two-part lecture delivered by her in two colleges in Cambridge. She dwells at length upon various things that a woman in English society has been deprived of simply because she is woman, even the entry to the library of the university, if she is not escorted ‘properly’! It is this image of woman’s dependence on man for almost everything sustained by the society which she protests against. It is a beautiful book written in a style that gives expression to the submerged agonies of a wounded self. Woolf’s book represents the perception that “there is something wrong with society’s treatment of women”.With time feminism became a potential ideological-political force revealing as its strength a number of diverse ideologies and theories that represented various angles of looking at the problem.

 

Fundamental Themes of Feminism:

 

I. Female Aesthetics: Female aesthetics, being emerged by the feminist critics of different countries, has become one of the themes of feminist criticism. It is based on a universal view-a universal woman nature and culture. This general notion was developed because of a special social phenomenon aroused in America, Germany, Italy, and Russia. The feminists who were against the patriarchy, notion of canon formation in literary creation and criticism, formed a distinct movement ‘Women’s Liberation Movement’. The supposition of female aesthetics is that there is distinctive literary awareness of female which is distinct from the male.The movement collects momentum because in the period of 60s, there is the development of ‘Black Literature’ (Negro Literature) in U.S.A. which provided the insights for the development of female aesthetics. According to Black Literature, the Negro has a distinct awareness from the Whites. In this way, ‘female aesthetics’ is the ‘female literary consciousness’as expressed in literature or ‘the female sense of beauty’.

 

II. Gynocriticism: In the theory of female aesthetics we find that it is based on a universal concept, a universal woman nature and culture. On the contrary Gynocriticism regards woman different, in terms of nature, race, culture and nation, and due to this, they cannot be universally studied. It addresses to practical problems only and it is more forward. According to ‘gynocriticism’ it is a peculiar feminist reading-criticism of female’s texts. The main object of ‘gynocritics’ was to read the literature which is being written by female and to present what characterizes the literature of woman as woman.

 

III. Canon Formation: Canon formulation is the reformulation of the literary canon. It was needed to change the marginality of woman. The growth of “female aesthetics” and gynocriticism laid to elaboration of a distinct canon of female writing-literature by woman. Emily Bronte, George Eliot and Jane Austen are excellent female writers throughout the late 18th and 19th century. The effort of feminist critics concentrated in the period of 70’s which results to the idea of woman tradition in literature. Many of the female writers and writings were analyzed in depth, presenting the individuality of woman writers and their writings.

 

IV. Female Subject or Female Identity: In the concept of feminist criticism, the subject is undoubtedly the female author and the subject has a personality. This type of idea, the idea of the character or the author as a personality undertake the belief of the ‘unity of the self’. There is something called ‘unified self’. The subject has a ‘substantive or unified self’.

 

V. Gender Theory: In the later part of the 80’s, one more theme, gender theory was developed. In fact, some of the male critics are talking over the feminist point of view. In this respect, K. K. Ruthvin and his work “The Feminist Literary Studies” are significant. This coming of male critics to the horizon of ‘feminism’ causes a kind of dispute between the female and male critics of ‘feminist criticism’. Because of this entry of male critics into the feminist criticism a slackening comes. Some of the female critics are trying to discover the nature of masculinity in literature. This is a new development. In this respect, “Between Men” (the subtitle-“English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire”) of Eve Sedgwick is noteworthy in the period of 80’s. It is a study of male homosociality in literature. It reveals how the masculine patriarchal ideal gets reflected in literature. Being a gender discourse, it is a new approach to study. In late 80,s, post -colonial group supported a part of the process for coloniality‘race’ is the distinguishing thing and here ‘gender’ is the most significant factor of study. Now literature came to be studied with the expression of both, expression of feminity and expression of masculinity.

Feminist criticism made possible to the world that there is a tradition of female creative writing which has its own right for existence. One more contribution is that feminist criticism has developed a critical practice which might borrow from other critical practices. But it is different in colour ; besides it is anti- patriarchal in practice. It lays bare the woman subject in literature

 

Need to Develop a Model for Feminist

Analysis of Literary Texts

For making an analysis of any literary work it is necessary to have a theoretical model based on a theoretical framework. Authors take different stances in delineating with women and issues related to females. A researcher can develop an appropriate model that fits in to analyze the concerned work. Authors expose the orientation male's world in relationships, at workplace, at home, in organizations, in society oppresses women. The female protagonists and many other female characters exhibited various models of female behavior at works.

 

Some women accept the reality whereas the other revolt against the system and custom was charting out a new place for themselves. Males have been treating women as an object and hence they are disturbed and find themselves in a dilemma. All these issues in the relevant works can be discussed using a concrete theoretical paradigm. Different feminist writers' have applicable views in analysing feminist novel. The views of Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex are applicable to what overall female characters experienced. As Mary Ellmann, ElaineShowalter and Betty Friedan have suggested that a new woman tries to chart out her own identity in the course of time as communities advance. Hence, feminist critical theories have become fruitful to analyze the female characters, their existence, experience in the families and societies which the author give expression to.

 

Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal book The Second Sex (1949) is the first great book which has voiced basic questions of modern feminism with great clarity. The importance of this book can be gauged from the fact that it is called as ‘feminist Bible’. This books influence is felt even in the 21st century which underlies the greatness and importance of the book. The first English edition of The Second Sex appeared in 1953. In the book Simonede Beauvoir criticizes the patriarchal nature of human society and the inferior status given to women in social, political and religious spheres of life. The book has a very broad historical perspective which details injustice done to women from the historical times.

 

She makes a plea for equal opportunities and equal vocation for men and women irrespective of their sex. She argued strongly against the demotion of women to second place that have happened historically and it was still happening in the 20th century. She challenges the political, social and existential theories underlying woman's demotion in the society. The myths and definition of woman and womanhood had been used by patriarchal, male dominated society throughout the centuries to exploit women. Simone de Beauvoir says that one is not born a woman but becomes one through socialization. Women must break free from social and cultural constructs of womanhood to realize their full potential and get freedom from patriarchal society.

 

“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”

 

Simone de Beauvoir declares boldly in this book and this statement startled the readers when it was first published in her native France in 1949, 70 years later, it continues to have the same effect. In some more than 700 pages of analysis Beauvoir scrutinizes the facts and myths of women’s lives, using disparate methodologies of literature, history, biography, and philosophy. She not only examines the problem women encounter but also the possibilities open to them.

 

Initially the book created a shock and hostility for the author, but gradually she broke through the defense of the bourgeoisie, of the church, the businessmen , the wright- winged defenders of Napoleonic glory and the hired press. She was at once, the most hated and the most loved women in France. The book has been translated in various languages. Book one is a historical overview that she called ‘facts and myths’ about women. These she further divides into three separate sections called destiny’, ‘history’ and ‘myth’ all of which are further divided into individual chapters. ‘Destiny’ discusses the condition of women through biology, psychoanalysis and historical materialism. ‘history’ follows women through nomadic societies, as early tillers of the soil, and from time of the patriarchs and classical antiquity through Middle ages, the enlightenment, the French revolution and granting of French suffrage in 1947. In ‘ myths’ she speaks of dreams, ears and idols, then follows the mythical women created by five different male authors. Four are French – Montherlant, Claudel, Breton, and Stendhal ; the 5^th is English, D.H. Lawerence. She follows this with a discussion of ‘Myth and Reality.’

In the second volume or Book two, she deals with ‘ women’s life today’, which following form, she also divides into three sections: ‘ the formative years’, ‘situation’ and ‘justification’ .These are followed by a conclusion called ‘VII- toward liberation’ . here she is both contemporary and personal, as she writes of childhood, adolescent, maturity and old age.

As she filled in details of her ambitions outline, the word ‘other’ becomes increasingly important in her vocabulary. Humanity is male and men defines not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidence, the in essential as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is absolute- she is the Other.............

                   * Lecture prepare for Ph.D students