Gender Politics: A Womanist Reading of the Short Stories of Alice Walker

Alice Walker’s proposition of womanism as a stand point for black feminism to voice their difference from white feminism was formulated in her collection of essays entitled In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens in 1983. This philosophy came up as a reaction to the marginalization of colored women in the mainstream of feminist critical theory and politics, which was caused by feminist focus only on gender oppression. Walker refers to black feminism as womanism, a term rooted in black folk culture to demonstrate clearly that the very concept of womanism is shaped by the experiences of being a black woman. A womanist loves women, appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s strength but above all is committed to the survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Womanism celebrates the ideals of black life and at the same time gives a balanced presentation of black womanhood and gendered struggles. It advocates inclusiveness instead of exclusiveness, whether it is related to race or gender. This political and critical framework of womanism stemmed from the desire to take up gender issues without turning against men and to foster bonds between men and women. The contention of this paper is to study how far the author has incorporated the concept of womanism in portraying the struggles of her characters. Apart from the struggles in fighting the gender discrimination, the women characters are committed to the survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female.