REPRESENTATIONS OF MALAY WOMEN IN LITERATURE

Zawiah Yahya (1988) asserted that the depiction of Malay women in the earlier years of Malaysian post-colonial novels were minimal and suffered from “under- exposure.” The women were normally side-lined and playing “insignificant feminine roles as prostitutes, midwives, abortionists, ‘mak andam’ and servants.” Even if the Malay women were given some form of focus and “semblance of personality,” it was normally the men who eventually became the saviour of the women and took all the limelight. Shirley Lim (1994) concurred this view by stating that ““Women, passive, long-suffering, complicit, have been colonised subjects for centuries.” Due to this realisation, more writers are giving agency and voice to the women characters and their experiences too deserved to be highlighted and featured. In fact, various issues in relation to women have been studied since the 19 th century so that more women are given agency about their subjugated positions. The colonisation of women by the patriarchal beliefs governing the societies results in their inability to act and speak in the way they truly desire. Women’s voices are silenced and they are denied existence, consequently, they are marginalised. Hence, women’s experiences should be explained to set the agenda for liberating them from this oppressive silence.

One of the ways to look at the various women’s experiences in Malaysia is by

focusing on their portrayal in the literary world. Even though Zawiah Yahya

(2003) contends that literature is a construction of ‘reality’ purported by the

writer, it is a ‘reality’ that is created based on the social phenomenon taken from

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real life. Hence, literature is never innocent. This lack of innocence means that a

piece of literary writing always brings some hidden messages which are closely N

related to the lives of the community depicted in it. Women’s experiences are I

undoubtedly coloured by their associations with the world at large. The silence

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of the women is part of the subaltern studies initiated by Gayatri Spivak. She

proclaimed that women without voice can be labelled as colonised subjects-a

class of people who are powerless with limited material possessions. This lack of P

empowerment and possession marginalise the subalterns because they are

submerged in the dominant discourse of powerful people who hold the reign of

power and have possessions. Thus, Spivak concludes that if the subalterns as

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males have no history and cannot speak, the subalterns as females are even

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more deeply in shadow. Therefore, Spivak (2000) is highly sceptical about the

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possibility of the female subalterns ever being able to have any voice at all

making her concludes that the female subalterns are actually a muted group.

Boehmer (1995) echoes this thought when she posits that women in colonial Boehmer (1995) echoes this thought when she posits that women in colonial

In the same vein, the female characters in the novel have to face not only their positions as postcolonial subjects but they are bound by the Malay culture and traditions which are largely influenced by the teachings and practices of Islam (Nor Faridah, 2002). Therefore, these multiple monumental elements prevailing in their lives could silence their experiences. As such, it is imperative that the characters’ experiences are acknowledged to provide them with a voice, to break the muteness. In the real world, Nilufer Narli (1986) has concluded that, the role of women is confined to being a mother, an obedient wife or being supporters of males at the familial and societal levels. Within the dakwah (Islam) paradigm, men, are assumed to be taking the primary role as head of the household and in the public domain In the context of the Malays in Malaysia, the women's way of life has strongly been influenced by the Islamic law (syarak) and the Malays' customary law (adat resam). Being an important component of the Malays ethnic identity, Islam plays a significant role in determining the individual and the group identity of the Malays (Azizah Kassim, 1985).

In fiction, gender discrimination phenomenon not only exists in the form of 'double standard treatment' on the development of characters by male writers, but also can be seen in the view of the writer himself while he narrates the story.

This situation exists because our society is like any other historical civilizations,

a patriarchy (Millet 1981). Wellek and Warren (1996) have further concluded 85

that as every writer is a member of society, he/she can be studied as a social

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being. One's writings would easily expand into one of the whole milieu from

which one came and in which one lived. Since the male writer is writing the N

traits of his own kind, surely the male characters are very much close to his

nature. As a result, the female characters in some literary texts have been S G

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portrayed as having vague and insignificant roles. In local male writings, women

characters have been classified into two roles: good or evil. Incidentally, if she is CE

good, she is portrayed as being a loyal wife, doting mother, or an obedient

daughter; if evil, she is the scandalous woman, cruel stepmother or the

ungrateful daughter. Most male writers have the tendency to generalise their

images of the women characters based on their narrow perceptions and

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universal (patriarchal) assumptions. Their intention may be partly to make their

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stories sensationally sizzling to attract readers; or unconsciously, they write in

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the sense of revealing the multi-faceted images of women. The images are

usually stereotypical, whereby the characters are often being mistreated and

misjudged (Zawiyah Yahya 1988).

REPRESENTATIONS OF MALAY WOMEN IN LITERATURE