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Comparative Survey, Descriptive Research

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  Comparative survey research is a type of descriptive survey where it aims to compare the status of two or more variable, institutions, strategies etc. This technique often uses multiple disciplines in one study.This does not only compare different groups but also same group over time.Few points are to be kept in mind before starting the comparative survey. ·        Comparison Points -The research should be very clear regarding the points to be compared. This can also be identified through review of literature and experience of experts. ·        Assumption of Similarities -  One has to be clear about the similarities the two variable hold. If the researcher do not find this there is no point of comparison. Criteria of Comparison - The researcher has to identify the criteria of comparison keeping in mind the fairness and objectivity. Appropriate tools has to be identified for measurement of criterion variables. Comparative survey research is carried on when the researcher cannot
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Analysis of Feminism and Feminist Theory

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 Deconstruction             Gynocriticism

Colonialism

Character Sketch of Isabel Archer

Pygmalion as a Problem Play

Feminism is an advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of equality, that is women and men both should have equal rights and opportunities. It is a perception based on two fundamental premises- (a) Sex (b) Gender. Sex refers to determining of identity on the basis of biological category; whereas, gender connotes the cultural meaning attached to sexual identity.

According to feminist theory, Gender difference is the foundation of a structural inequality between women and men, by which the former suffer social injustice. And, the inequality between the Sexes is not the result of biological necessity but is produced by the cultural construction of gender differences.

Feminist theories range themselves against various structures and inter-relationships of power like politics, patriarchy, law, academics etc. This also included re-reading the canon of English literature to expose the patriarchal ideology. Like all other structures of power, the canon projects and confirms the cultural biases of those who construct it. They see the woman as only ‘other’ of the male. Feminist theories try to take over the canon and rescue it from patriarchy by helping readers scan texts, genres or movements so as to relentlessly make visible the components of gender and gender-bias in the academy which has so far tried to conceal them and their works and also to create space for women writers.

Feminism and its (feminist) theories identify the gender biases of literature and help both women and men defeat these biases by reading against them. However, the argument is not between women and men but on their thought process, i.e. between feminists and anti-feminists. The evolution of the feminist movement (four waves) is as given below:-

1)      First Wave: In the fourteenth and fifteenth century France, the first feminist philosopher Christine-de-Pisan challenged prevailing attributes towards women with a bold call for female education. Her mantle was taken up in later years by different feminists also including martial oppression and equality in work.

2)    Second Wave: The second wave in 1960s provoked extensive theoretical discussions about the origin of women’s oppression, patriarchal culture, the role of family, education and place in politics.

3)      Third Wave: The third wave emerged in 1990s. Influenced by the postmodernist movement, third wave feminists sought to question, reclaim and redefine the ideas, words and media (that have transmitted ideas about womanhood, gender, beauty, feminity, masculinity etc). There was a decided shift in the perception of gender.

4)      Fourth Wave: This started around 2010 with focus on sexual harassment, body shaming, patriarchal culture, rape etc.

 

The most notable feminist writers are:-

In the late 18th century, England Mary Wollstonecraft by her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman illustrates literally and metaphorically the recognition that education is integral to the emancipation of women.

Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics (1969) situated at the crossroads of literary and cultural criticism and political theory launched a major criticism of canonical male authors like Lawrence, Norman Mailer and Henry Miller.

Anxieties about the need of economic and artistic independence for women are voiced by Virginia Woolf in A Room of One’s Own. She argues that women have been traditionally disadvantaged compared to men owing to financial independence and that the women writers are deprived of privacy.

The anxiety that woman is viewed as ‘Man’s Other’ rather than as an independent human being with her own rights and needs, animates the work of Simone-de-Beauvoir in The Second Sex in postwar France.

Nina Baym’s in Woman’s Fiction (1978) argues for a specifically female framework for the analysis of women’s literature.

By Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness, Elaine Showalter argues that women constitute the mutated culture and men the dominant culture. She explores biological, linguistic and psychoanalytic models of difference in women’s writing. As such she suggests ‘Gynocritics’ – theory that will concern itself with the experience of women as writers. Further Showalter also reminds of the need to keep all cultural phenomena- race, class, academics and also the market in mind to produce multilayered analysis of women’s writing.

Among others Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), Toni Morrison (Beloved, Sula), Urvashi Butalia (The Other Side of Silence), Rebecca Solint (Men Explain Things to Me), Edwidge Danticat (Krik? Krak), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (We Should All Be Feminist), Kamala Markandaya (Nectar in a Sieve), Mahasweta Devi (Breast Stories) Kamala Das (An Introduction) and Hannah Rothschild (The Improbability of Love) have added powerful voices in the movement.

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