Abstract:
The consequential awareness in women at the advent of emerging
feminist consciousness has heightened their questioning openly regarding their
status in their family and society and especially doubts regarding their roles
assigned to them by the patriarchal society such as a dependent daughter, wife
and mother and as a member of the society. Marxist feminists see class as the
ultimate determinant of women’s current economic status, whereas socialist
feminists view gender and class as equally powerful oppressive mechanisms in
addition to focusing upon areas of sexuality and reproduction. The sharp
distinction, made in the psychoanalytical feminist perspective, between
woman’s ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ has had its impact on the polarization of the old
feminine mystique, the angel in the house now split into feminine and feminist,
but the adaptability of the remedies they all offer for the existing evils is still an
unsolved mystery.
