The Feminine, The Feminist and The Female: Evolution and Trends in the English Writings of Pakistani Women

Abstract

This paper presents a brief review of Pakistani women writers and their contribution to Pakistani literature in English. The study focuses on the evolution, trends, and characteristic features of their writing. Furthermore, in order to have a discernible view, Elaine Showalter’s methodology is used to categorize the development of women’s writing into three phases: the feminine, the feminist and the female. The findings of the study reveal that though slow and late in its evolution, women's writing forms a significant part of the Anglophone literary canon in Pakistan. Women writers have set a feminine tradition, peculiar in its consciousness, characters, and themes. Feminism is one of the influencing factors in their writing along with the representation of domestic issues. The study shows that women’s writing is markedly different from that of men’s. Women writers are more sensitive to the habitat they live in. As a result, their writing tends to be melodramatic and autobiographical. Moreover, they are true representatives of their gendered community. Mostly, their writing portrays women and their issues in domestic and public spheres. The current paper will help to understand women’s role, position, and degree of influence in the literary field from a broader perspective. Keywords: evolution, feminism, Pakistani English fiction, trends, women’s writing