Gender Discrimination in Patriarchal society in Jean P. Sasson’s princess

ABSTRACT

Feminism is one of the most common issues discussed by everyone around the world. Actually, feminism is a response to the women who have been oppressed and unjustly treated. Most of women realized that they were in the second level and discriminated in all aspect of life. The patriarchal culture make the women have limited space to do everything they want even to determine their own life. Women are forced to obey the entire rule which is made by men and accept their fate in the men’s hand. In this case, the topic discussion is gender discrimination in patriarchal society in Jean p. Sasson’s Princess, this thesis reveal gender discrimination toward women in patriarchal society and how they struggle to get their right and freedom. Here, the writer tries to make the readers concludes how woman always in second class, inferior, full of weakness, exploited, marginalized and to be the object of violence.

Thus, this study is aimed to find the kinds of gender discrimination and the struggle of female character in the novel. Then, the researcher uses appropriate theory to support the object. The theory used is feminist literary criticism which focused on liberal feminism. It is because liberal feminism is asserts the equality of men and women. The data of this research are collected from Jean P. Sasson’s Princess.

Based on the researcher’s analysis, gender discrimination and struggle revealed on the women character of Princess novel takes two main forms. First, gender discrimination which is divided into four types those are gender discrimination in family. It is explain that women always get unfair treatment from men include father, brother or husband. They are ignored except for serving and giving pleasure for men’s sexuality. Gender discrimination at workplace explains that women have no right and opportunity to develop their skill in the public area. Men consider that the existence of women in the companies just like trouble maker and make men do not focus to do their work because of women’s body arousing their sexual desire. But the worst is men think that women have no ability and creativity to hold or manage business so the best place for women is the house doing house work.

Gender discrimination in education. Here women are forbidden to go school. Women are forced to do house work such as cooking, sewing, and washing, the basic education that is related with housewife since their childhood. Physical violence, it is very dangerous discrimination that women get. Women often get violence from their father, husband or brother. They are easy to get violence just because a little mistake, usually they will get slap or hit from men neither in public nor family. But the best place for women to get violence is in the house because they accept all the violence and never tell to other people. Therefore violence in the family continues never stop. Second, the women struggle in which they can get right and freedom in the patriarchal society which is dominated by men in all aspects of life. Women have to struggle to take back their right and freedom from men’s authority. They have to realize that men and women have the same right to do everything in the world. Men and women are equal so there is no discrimination between them, all men are created same.