Women must have wanted to write about men too, maybe with even the same trail of thought as picked up by men. There have been great classics, like ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte to name one. But perhaps it was their patriarchal purview and more so, because they thought of things beyond men - that they chose not to.
What held women back to write, then?
Literature to women
There are countless reasons for this, beginning with one that women struggle with everyday: lack of equal opportunities and exposure as opposed to an average male. They are restricted in their abilities and permits to go about and actually see the world. Imagine if Tolstoy had never gone to live in seclusion, or if poets like Browning and Keats never went to university or if William Woodsworth wasn’t well to do. Would we have gotten the works that we so thoroughly enjoy today? These men had unrestricted, string-less access to what we call the outside world for a woman holed up in the house with her children and nothing to do. (Read Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy for further understanding.)
Patriarchy figures into writing in subtle ways that often don’t meet the unassuming eye. For the women, men have been someone to be feared from and even hated for their atrocities, one of them being holding the power to bar her way into what she wants to do - be it writing or dance or whatever they desire to do with their lives.
If somehow women find a means to pick up a pen and start writing, they have historically struggled to find inspiration.
They have historically struggled to find tradition before them. They scramble to find resemblance in literature, and someone to tell them how to do things.
Because of the steeping patriarchy around them, they are in a constant conflict between what is expected of a woman in the society and what they want women to be.
What does a woman write about?
Who wants to know about her struggles?
How does she begin to write the very first sentence(s)?
Women have also been at the forefront of the chastity parade of a society, taking pride in their ability to chain a woman down to traditions. To write freely would be to break this holy circle and step into the stage for public opinion. What follows after is not pretty or something quite desirable. This is why women writers have denied recognition for their works by using pen names: George Eliot for Mary Evans, J.D. Robb for Nora Roberts, A.M. Barnard for Louisa May Alcott.
Even after overcoming the mental hurdles and the obstacles in her way, if a woman picked up a pen to write and actually did write something worthwhile, they now have to deal with misogyny around them once again to publish their work. Women are considered unclassified to provide testimonials to their own work. The things they talk about are considered to be trivial or insignificant.
Literature knows no bounds: there is no right or wrong style of writing, no right or wrong way to tell a story. The women who have written, have contributed in their own little or big way to pave the way for future female writers. They have provided the next generation of women a tradition, a legacy to behold and above all, the courage to write.
To encourage more female writers, it is imperative that they have access to more women and more representation where they recognize themselves as being part of something that is indeed possible, and not just a dream.
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