Protofeminism

The emergence of the feminist writer

Feminist Poster

Welcome to A Narrative of their Own, where I discuss the work of 20th century women writers and their relevance to contemporary culture.

This week, I want to introduce a new series in which I examine the work of the preeminent writers of the Women’s Movement and second wave feminism.  I shall focus on some of these writers in upcoming newsletters. 

The term “Protofeminism” refers to feminist ideas, thought, and writing which precedes the arrival of feminism.  It references work written during periods of history when the term “feminist” did not yet exist, and is often seen by many critics to have anticipated feminist thought and the Women’s Movement.

This is often seen as the time before the 20th century, though this is confused, as 18th and 19th century usage is often subsumed into feminism itself and some scholars have questioned the usefulness of the term, as also with the term “postfeminism.”

Before the generally accepted time period commonly associated with the modern feminist movement, authors such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Charlotte Brontë have been seen as creating work challenging and critiquing the treatment of women within their own society. 

Within Bronte’s Jane Eyre, for example, we see the religiously observant and appearingly inferior Jane actually showing a rebellious spark, and the novel is often considered as a proto-feminist text.  Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, meanwhile, appearing in 1892, is seen as an early feminist (or proto-feminist) text in its depiction of a woman’s descent into madness due to patriarchal constraints and the portrayal of female repression. 

It is also often debated as to whether Jane Austen could be considered a proto-feminist.  Although her novels appear to show the status quo in early 19th century women’s lives of becoming successfully married to a suitable man, she also shows a strong tendency for championing the women in her novels who show logic and forethought.

Mary Wollstonecraft has often been cited as ahead of her time in her thoughts and writing, which appear to anticipate feminism.  Often considered one of the earliest known proto-feminists, her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman has not been without criticism, and has been argued by some critics to contain inconsistencies with regard to feminist thought. 

Despite this, Wollstonecraft is often considered the mother of modern feminism, and in her seminal text, published in 1792, she argued that women were capable of reason and should be afforded the same educational opportunities as men.  She also identifies the domestic norms and tyranny of the patriarchy to be a major obstacle to women living independent lives, demanding that women have access to education and the opportunity to work.

It is cited that the word ‘feminism’ was first coined by French philosopher Charles Fourier (as féminisme), though it originally referenced feminine qualities or character, rather than the sense we now have of its meaning of equality of the sexes.

First wave feminism in the UK is generally seen as being between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, defined predominantly by women’s suffrage and the granting of the votes for women.  But there were movements much earlier than this.  In Simone de Beauvoir’s book The Second Sex, she writes that the first woman to "take up her pen in defence of her sex" was Christine de Pizan in the 15th century.

A significant development supporting the spread of ideas around feminism began with the rise of the printing press and the publication of journals and pamphlets supporting feminist groups and ideas.  This developed further into novels and poetry, helping to encourage new ideas and questioning the long-held inequity of gender.  

As with many of the women involved in the suffragette movement, writing was still a fairly privileged occupation carried out by mostly educated women.  Despite still suffering from the social restrictions of their gender, they did have the benefit of their class position.  

Some early pre-feminist thought came from British author Mary Astell in the 18th century, who put forward the religious argument that God had made women as rational beings equal to men and that therefore women’s socially inferior roles within society were not inevitable.  She went so far as to insinuate that treating women as inferior to men was an offence to God. 

Early literary salons, popular in Europe, also showed their feminist stripes by the mid-18th century, with groups of women congregating to discuss literature.  This allowed for a feminine space in which to allow for female expression and for writers and thinkers to share ideas and find inspiration.

Some other early pioneers of feminism included the US journalist and critic Margaret Fuller.  She became a women’s rights advocate best known for her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century which set forth the argument that women be allowed full participation within society.  Similar to Wollstonecraft, she also advocated for access to education and employment.  Fuller went on to play a key role in the development of feminist thought throughout the US.

No story of feminist women’s writing can be complete without a nod to Virginia Woolf.  Writing in the early part of the twentieth century, the British novelist’s essay to Newnham College and Girton College at Cambridge University in October 1928 (later published in book form) A Room of One’s Own was, and still is, considered a landmark feminist text.  In it, she considers the fate of Shakespeare’s sister ‘Judith’ and the ways in which society would have reacted to her ambition to become a famous playwright as her brother did.    

Although second wave feminism was often criticised for its emphasis on the lives of the white, middle-class women it attracted, the writing of influential Black writers began coming through in the twentieth century.

Audre Lorde was a poet, writer and civil rights activist who specifically related her writing around issues concerning feminism, racism, and homosexuality.  Her seminal book Sister Outsider contains essays exploring the intersectionality of these issues and her invaluable examination of them.  

Angela Davis, a political activist, author and scholar involved in social justice, published Women, Race, and Class which became a classic in Black feminist literature.  Emerging as a leader of the Communist Party USA in the 1960s, she also had ties with the Black Panthers and she became known for advocating for the abolishment of prisons and the prison-industrial complex.

Photo by Viola Kovács on Unsplash

As the Women’s Movement began to take shape and second wave feminism gained momentum in the mid 20th century, more influential women writers came to the fore.  Writers such as Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Kate Millet, and Germaine Greer began setting out their ideas on what the future of gender equality should look like, as well as demanding an end to gender discrimination.  

Hopefully you have enjoyed this brief foray into the ideas and writers who laid the groundwork for some of these women writers.  This is a topic I look forward to revisiting in future newsletters, as I examine some of the connections - and differences - of the works of such phenomenal women.

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