Naguib Mahfouz: A Western and Eastern Cage of Female Entrapment ...

These questions provoke some thought about how the category of “woman” is understood as the subject of feminism, according to Butler. She suggests that perhaps feminism made a mistake by trying to say that women constituted a group with common characteristics and interests. Since patriarchy has already created a hierarchy that has divided humans, women seek now to undo such injustice.

Historically, women have been discouraged and undermined as the lower end of the human species, incapable of competing with men, a phenomenon evident in many texts written about women by men. One such text is quoted by Michele Le Doeuff in Women and Philosophy as she illustrates Hegel’s prejudice against women in Philosophy of Right:

Since its conception, feminism has attempted to address the negative stereotypes as witnessed in discourse such as Hegel’s. Not only is this oppressive discourse prevalent in nonfiction works and essays, but often much of the fiction written by men portrays women in roles created by men.

Feminist theory has a historical past. This becomes evident as we trace the cultural traditions in various groups all over the world and consider the many centuries during which women have tried to claim their individual identity and rights. Some believe this tradition originated in the fact that women give birth and therefore are responsible for nurturing and caring for the young, creating a limited situation in which a woman becomes trapped.