related to the idea of children’s capabilities to develop and learn. Children’s literature depicts children as human beings who are able to be empowered. As
Nodelman 2008: 68 states: “texts written for children should view childhood as both eternally static
and a place of change, children as both wonderfully incapable of learning and inevitably and always in the process of learning from adults who
already know, home as both a place of safe fixity and a place where one learns
to be different.” Nodelman argument explains that children’s literature depicts children who have
limited experience that prohibit them to take real actions. It does not mean that children are incapable to develop and learn because children are usually learn
from adults and families at home as the primary sources of knowledge for children in childhood time. The phase of childhood is an important period for children
where children’s experiences will develop through the process of learning. Thus, children are able to make their own empowerment through the process.
As a result, empowerment creates change in people’s life. Lord and Hutchinson 1993: 17 explain that one of the effects of empowerment is that it
can create the ‘feeling for themselves’. It means that empowerment is able to make people, especially women and children increasing their self-esteem,
confidence, and sense of pride and it makes them feeling that they are valued by other people as well. They will be proud to be themselves because they are being
reckoned and gaining self confidence to achieve their goal.
3. Feminism in Children’s Literature
Most of feminist writers used literary works as the representations of their thought which bound by cultural restriction in patriarchal society. They write
some types of writing forms such as letters, diaries and journals. The ideas inside these texts are mostly about women problems and self-experiences. They create
these kinds of writing because of cultural restriction that consider women incapable of creating good and grand literary works like what men produced. This
underestimating thought continues to limit women’s movement. Women are only permitted to play roles in private life and in themselves as wives and mothers.
Therefore, feminist writers create literary works as the expression of themselves who are often discriminated and have no rights in the society. Nodelman and
Reimer 2003: 163 explain, female writers use their writing to deliver their ideas of a ‘self’ that the writers name ‘I’. It means that feminist writers use subject I
instead of name of the character to show their existence and protest to the society. Some of the genres of literary works written by feminist writer are presented in
the form of autography, autobiography and other forms which are focusing on women’s live events and experiences. They write their experiences to encourage
women and to provide different point of view in seeing discrimination and oppression.
To give understanding about women’s problems faced in patriarchal society, feminist writers not only write their experience for female adults but also
for female children. For female children, feminist writers use the form of children’s literature that represent and liked by children. Feminism in children’s
literature is rooted from feminism in general which tries to explain about discrimination and oppression in the world of children.
Children’s literature which can be categorized as classic books appears in the form of journal and diaries,
whereas modern children’s literature mostly appears in the form of novels and picture books. Feminist writers create many classic children’s books with girl as
the main character such as Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery which are famous and depict the portrayal of female
children’s problems in the era when the books are produced. Feminist writers have specific purpose in writing children’s books. They
explore their writing ability and their identity as women in the works. They vocalize their problems as women who live in male dominated society to children.
Nodelman and Reimer 2003: 163 argue “writing by women for young people frequently investigates the relation between the construction or discovery of self
and writing and reading.” Feminist children’s writers use their works to explore themselves as the characters, writers and readers in the book. These three
positions in literature are very different but they have big influence to the children. Feminist writers are often position themselves as the main character to convey
their ideas and understanding about children and women position in the society. Trites in Nodelman and Reimer, 2003: 163 says feminist writers who depict
their development in literary works as showing characters who accept language as the form of their creations and achieving understanding of their positions as
writers, females, family members and friends. In other words, feminism in children’s literature explores about women and their works. They accept their
writing as the expression of freedom in vocalizing their opinion as well as understanding to their role as women in many positions in the society. Through
literary works produced by feminist writers, children will understand the ideas and
point of views about children positions and roles to give understanding to female children about the experiences of discrimination and women positions in
patriarchal society.
C. Previous Research Findings
