The Women of the Globe: A Retrospective Quest for the Unified Gender Discrimination

Abstract

The works written by women focus on the discrimination they were subjected to from the primordial times either through the various mythical stories or through the patriarchal ideologies prevalent in the society. The shift in the marginal positioning of women was bought into question through the feminist movements and the literary works of women. Though the literary works of women aimed at a new understanding of the position of women it left out the aim of uniting the narratives of women from different classes. The elimination of these class differences and creation of a common understanding bereft of any class, nation or race barriers is necessary. This act of bringing together the narratives of women from different classes helps in developing a universal or global understanding among women. The attempt made by Margaret Atwood in her novella The Penelopiad to narrate the mythical story of Homer’s Odyssey from the point of view of Penelope and the twelve maids blurs the margin of class discrimination and calls for a global understanding. The novella focuses on the point that it is only through the “act of looking back” from a new position that reveals various misunderstandings we lived through.