Description
Contemporary feminism has often been identified as a series of waves to adjust to the different issues women face in a specific time period. The meaning and ultimate goal of feminism has a unique aim for particular periods and, therefore, it is necessary to explore the nuances of those periods to understand the motives of certain feminists and their advocacy for women’s rights. This thesis will study the feminist goals of three female authors from different centuries: 17th century Aphra Behn, 18th century Mary Wollstonecraft, and 20th century Virginia Woolf. As a proto-feminist, Aphra Behn expressed feminism through sexual agency during a time where the main force of patriarchal oppression followed the bourgeois morality of the Puritans. Mary Wollstonecraft’s feminist goal focused more on gaining independence in marriage and having an adequate education to expand women’s mental capacity instead of being subjected to the roles of wives and mothers. Wollstonecraft’s argument was not only directed towards women of the working class, but also extended to women from the lower class, an approach that was unique in its time. In Virginia Woolf’s century, although women had been given the right to vote, Woolf was more concerned about other issues that still remained for women, including gender norms, forced heterosexual relationships, and other arguments that were deemed radical in her time. The study f these three feminists will allow for a historical understanding of the ultimate issue women faced during that specific time period
