Women Struggle Against the Subordination in Patriarchal Society in Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur

Abstract

Subordination is the second position of women in patriarchal culture. The male
dominance in patriarchal culture make the women discriminated in the society. Men as
superior discriminate the women. The novel Women Without Men depicts the women
subordination and struggle against it. The women characters in the novel are discriminated
and violenced by the men. The subordinate position makes women have to struggle from the
situation to be equal to the men. Therefore, this study aims to describe the women’ struggle
against the subordination that reflected by the women characters in Women Without Men.
The theory which is used in this research is subordination theory. Women’s
subordination means the inferior position of women to men. Thus, women’s subordination is
a situation, where a power relationship exist and men dominate women (Abeda Sultana,
2011). The subordination that we experience at a daily level, regardless of the class we might
belong to, takes various forms – discrimination, disregard, insult, control, exploitation,
oppression, violence – within the family, at the place of work, in society (Abeda Sultana,
2011). Struggle is to fight against somebody/ something in order to prevent a bad situation or
result. Struggle means to fight somebody or try to get away from them (Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary Sixth Edition, 2000).
The type of this research is qualitative using close reading method. The object is a
novel entitled Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur published in 1998. The techniques
of data collection were: (1) the writer reads the novel correctly and analyzes which part in the
novel that describe women’s struggle and subordination. The women’s struggle and
subordination itself contains in the story. It reflected in explicit and implicit meaning through
the women characters conversation and speech, (2) select the data which relevant to the
subject of the research, (3) connect the data with the theory and also read the previous study
that related to the novel.
The result of the analysis shows the women characters are subordinate in patriarchal
society. There are two kinds of treatment which are done toward women. The first is being
discriminated that consist of women are lack mobility and burden household work on women.
The second is experienced violence. Furthermore, to resist from subordination the women
struggle. The first is ignoring the men's command. The second is fighting the abusive
treatment. In conclusion, the patriarchal culture had positioned Iranian women in
subordination. The subordination triggers the struggle of these women to fight for the rights
to be equal to men.
Keywords: Subordination, Struggle, Discrimination, Violenced