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Feminism is approached by various meanings. As noted by a Salvadoran feminist activist Gloria Guzman, “It is a proposal for a change in the relations of power between people, men over women, and the relations of power expressed in the different realms of life” (Shayne, 2007).
Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits was strongly influenced by the three waves of Feminism. Allende’s focus throughout the novel was to diminish the gender inequality between men and women. Through her female characters Clara, Blanca, and Alba, Allende showcases the gradual rise of women in Latin American society. She incorporates political and societal aspects to emphasize women’s empowerment throughout the novel. Clara, Blanca, and Alba each individually represent the three waves of Feminism that gradually gave women the power to lessen the gender hierarchy present in their society.
The first wave of Feminism during between 1848-1920, aimed to gain women the right to vote and the right to birth control. (Senft, 2001). In other parts of the world, only some countries allowed women to take part in politics. For example, the closest country to Latin America is the United States of America, women were given the right to vote in 1920. However, during this time, many women in Latin America were to remain at home to do housework and look after their children, which maintain the traditional role of a woman in a household. However, it is not until the 1960s the effects of the Feminist movement reaches Latin America and women get the right to vote (Shayne, 2007).
The inability for the first wave of feminism to impact Latin America is reflected in Clara. It is assumed that having a politician in the family often results in many discussions in politics a...
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...ist activism in Latin America. Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. Retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405124331_yr2011_chunk_g978140512433112_ss1-38#citation
Garcia-Johnson, R.R. (1994). The struggle for space: feminism and freedom in “the house of the spirits”. University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, U.S. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/stable/30203383
Second-wave feminism. Wikipedia. Retrieved May 8, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism#1982/
SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on The House of the Spirits. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/houseofspirits/
Goodman, Donna. (2009, March 13). The struggle for women’s equality in latin america. Retrieved from http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/03/the-struggle-for-womens-equality-in-latin-america/
In addition, these women were often subjected to control, domination, and violence by men” (Global). This validates Azuela’s stance on how women should stay within their traditional roles because fighting for equality has been ineffective even today.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Over the past few decades, research on women has gained new momentum and a great deal of attention. Susan Socolow’s book, The Women of Colonial Latin America, is a well-organized and clear introduction to the roles and experiences of women in colonial Latin America. Socolow explicitly states that her aim is to examine the roles and social regulations of masculinity and femininity, and study the confines, and variability, of the feminine experience, while maintaining that sex was the determining factor in status. She traces womanly experience from indigenous society up to the enlightenment reforms of the 18th century. Socolow concentrates on the diverse culture created by the Europeans coming into Latin America, the native women, and African slaves that were imported into the area. Her book does not argue that women were victimized or empowered in the culture and time they lived in. Socolow specifies that she does her best to avoid judgment of women’s circumstances using a modern viewpoint, but rather attempts to study and understand colonial Latin American women in their own time.
“Compare and contrast women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early centuries with the European feminist movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.” Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women.
Most traditional societies and until recent times, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education sometimes was limited to domestic skills (“Women’s rights” n.p.). After, there was revolutions, and working women in the former soviet union intended to hold low paying jobs. They were also represented in party and government councils (“Women’s rights” n.p.). The late 1960s and early 70s active feminists organized numerous women’s rights group (“Women’s rights”n.p.). Women encountered discrimination in many forms. In 1960 equal opportunities were given to women (“Women’s rights” n.p.). During the women’s movement certain social institutions and traditional values, were questioned (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Else where in the world the women’s rights movement has also made progress in achieving its goals. In nearly every nation, women have the right to vote and hold public office (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Women’s rights movement made progress in achieving goals in nearly every nation after that (“Women’s rights” n.p.). Major unsponsored conferences on women were held in 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1995 (“Women’s rights” n.p.).
Another reason why this congress was different was the fact that they focused on “la mujer mexicana” meaning they focused on Mexican women and not universal motherhood (76). For this reason the congress was a big deal because the Mexican Constitutional convention was coming up later in the year. Feminist hoped to take the opportunity to bring up the issue of women’s rights to the forefront of public debate. Alvarado with his own personal agenda was also helping to push women’s suffrage to the forefront of the Constitutional convention so that women can help him win presidency in the next
The function of women in politics, the economy, and communal events in American society moved significantly from the pre-Revolutionary war era to the early beginnings of the 20th century. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, women were looked upon as being “subordinate to males” and so as a result women were affected by the laws and regulations forced upon them by men. It was almost as if it was a woman’s right, to get married, have kids, and live out the obligation of being a thorough wife and mother. Because the government was mainly ruled and controlled by men, it was often that women didn’t have the lawful rights, for example the power to vote or be in possession of property.
Suaréz, Lucia M. “Julia Alvarez And The Anxiety Of Latina Representation.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 5.1 (2004): 117-145. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar.2014.
“Taking charge using his physical advantage Esteban “pulled her from the bed, dragged her down the hall, pushed her down the stairs, and thrust her into the library” (132). Words such as “pulled,” “dragged”, “pushed” and “thrust” correlate to sexual violence, which is a man’s only dominating feature that can keep him in a position of power. However being a strong individual does not mean having physical strength, rather it means strong-minded, emotionally stable and the power to speak out; all weapons of the women of African and Latin American cultures. Through their words and actions such as sex strikes, their power is illuminated and true equality is found because “women are also men” (23).
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
The Connection between Feminism and Magical Realism in The House of the Spirits. Colonialism escalated patriarchal oppression often because men, ostracized from the social circle, wanted to exhibit their strong male power; however, the only socially acceptable place to exhibit their power was in the home (Loomba 142). Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits investigates the connection between feminism and magical realism, explained in Loomba’s “Colonialism/Postcolonialism” by representing women as having powerful traits of revolution that are appropriated by machistas who feel threatened and undermine the powerful qualities that these women have. This connection is furthermore explored through political changes in Chile that affect the home and the social caste system.
Throughout history, women and men alike, regard females as lesser, they get abused and taken advantage of time and time again. The strength of the women in the past have carried on and reached the women of today, who are able to feel empowered. Isabel Allende’s representation of women empowerment is beautifully woven into her novel The House of the Spirits, which display the viewpoints of many oppressed women who live in a patriarchal society. Despite this patriarchy, the women manage to gain control of their own roles in life. This control brings effects unto Esteban Trueba’s way of living , ultimately leading him down a path of self-despair and loneliness. Esteban’s first fiancée Rosa de Valle, his first wife Clara de Valle, and his only
For decades, women around the world have looked to each other for support and help in empowering the gender overall. In Brazil, for example, women have been making themselves heard and seen in the public arena since the early 1970’s. Brazilian feminism is a political action in which both theory and practice are incorporated. Moreover, it centers on women as agents effecting change in their conditions. They seek to create opportunities for women’s political participation, demand better conditions in women’s daily live and “address issues stemming from women’s socially defined reproduction roles.”
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, women began to vocalize their opinions and desires for the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage movement paved the way for the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women to have that right. The Women’s Suffrage movement started a movement for equal rights for women that has continued to propel equal opportunities for women throughout the country. The Women’s Liberation Movement has sparked better opportunities, demanded respect and pioneered the path for women entering the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s. The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminatory practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995).
The term feminism is often underestimated by society as it is often portrayed as a private problem rather than a social problem. This socially constructed term is interconnected with other principles that fit the needs of the oppressed, in this case women. For example, Professor Bettina interprets the term feminism as a means of equal power between men and women which include meaning, purpose, and activities in women’s lives. Aside from Professor Bettina’s definition of feminism, Chimamanda Adichie interprets the term as a social problem between men and women who acknowledge the problem and find solutions to solving the issue. Feminism is generally interpreted as the equality between men and women often ignoring what elements really make a