Vrouwees: perspektiewe in die meer onlangse Afrikaanse poësie en prosa

Abstract

This article investigates the views on woman and womanhood that are expressed in the poetry and prose of several contemporary women writers in Afrikaans. The study is conducted against the background of certain tendencies in feminist movements in Europe, Britain and the United States of America as well as views pronounced in the writings (both literary and feminist) of a number of feminist writers in Europe, Britain and the USA. For the purposes of this investigation a short exposition is given of what feminism entails, as well as of a number of the different views and approaches which it accommodates. Subsequently different views on womanhood as expressed in the creative writings of a number of women writers who have written extensively on this topic are discussed at the hand of their poetry and prose. Specific attention is paid to the South African woman’s views on men, marriage, her own sexuality and motherhood as revealed in the writings of these women.