Representation of Women Characters in Such a Long Journey

Abstract

The movements for the rights of women which later on became the movement of feminism, with its numerous sub-branches in the areas such as political, ideological, and social, endeavours to define, establish, and advocate gender equality. The movement also attempts to achieve equal opportunities for women to avail education and freedom to work and above all freedom to acquire social space as much as it is given to men. In the western world, a number of movements and campaigns have been undertaken for achieving the aforesaid objectives of feminism. There are a number of feminist activists who still continue to promote the issues of women. The feminists also lead the campaigns for the rights of women that includes the right to vote, right to avail an office in public, right to work and earn to name a few. With the advent of Virginia Woolf‟s call for „room of one‟s own‟, the conscious attempts to promote women‟s writing in creative fields commenced. The representation of women authors in creative fiddles has increased remarkably during the second half of the 20th century. It is interesting to note that there were many male authors also who represented the issues of women. Further, there are authors who have not dealt with women‟s issues directly in their works of fiction; nevertheless, there can be seen representation of life and condition of women of a section of society.