SEEN AND HEARD

Female authors explore how crucial it is that women write about their personal experiences.

- RIA SINGH

Women have traditionally used literature to examine and communicate the complexity of the human experience, especially the subtleties unique to the experiences of the gender. Women's writing has demonstrated their resilience and agency via themes of identity, relationships, and societal responsibilities, particularly during critical junctures of social and political upheaval. For instance, the early 20th Century saw significant change brought about by campaigns for peace, women's suffrage, reproductive rights, and better working conditions. Women authors played a significant role in influencing public opinion throughout this period of time with their novels, essays, and other literary works in addition to their journalism.

Classic writers like Sylvia Plath, Zora Neale Hurston, and Virginia Woolf paved the path, and expressed their thoughts through their writing. Woolf highlights in A Room of One's Own the significance of having one's own place and being financially independent in order for women to write freely. Hurston examines the search for self-identity in the face of gender and racial oppression in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Plath, on the other hand, addresses women's social constraints and mental health issues in The Bell Jar. Contemporary writers, such as Margaret Atwood and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, are addressing similar issues. Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun explores the nuances of conflict, identity, and the junction of these themes, while Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale challenges society's control over women's bodies and resonates with contemporary struggles for women's rights.