The Patriarchal Class System in Nawal El Saadawi's God Dies By the Nile.

Shihada, Isam M. (2007) The Patriarchal Class System in Nawal El Saadawi's God Dies By the Nile. Nebula.

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Abstract

Socialist feminists see class as central to women's lives, yet at the same time not ignoring the impact of patriarchy on their lives too. For them, women are victims of both the capitalist class and patriarchy. My argument is that women in God Dies by the Nile are victims of the patriarchal class system consolidated by politics, religion, and social customs. I argue further that for patriarchal class ideology to survive as an oppressive system, brutal force implements and instills such ideology in society. The impact of such ideology on women has been manifested through double moral standards, rape, sexual exploitation, psychological instability, illegitimate children and violence. This study also sheds light upon the plight of poor women employed by upper-class people at shamefully low salaries and who are frequently sexually abused by their masters and masters’ sons. Furthermore, I foreground how El Saadawi strives hard to deconstruct the patriarchal class system by revealing its dark side where women are preyed upon, raped, and destroyed for being women and even men are eliminated for failing to support fully such system. Finally, God Dies by the Nile ends with a note of resistance against the patriarchal class system by both Fatheya and Zakeya respectively. It is a message that collective efforts, by women all over the world regardless of their class, race and religion, are urgently needed to eradicate their oppression. I come to conclude further that for El Saadawi, it is only through political organization and a patient, long-enduring struggle that women can become an effective political power which will force society to change and abolish the patriarchal class structures that keep women victims. My analysis will be drawn on views of socialist feminist theorists like Juliet Mitchell, Nancy Holmstrom, and Heidi Hartmann.

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