term of financial resources. Hence, women become more powerless and dependent. Working is one of the ways to achieve a fair acceptance between
men and women because by working, women can show their capability to men. According to Hook 2000: 50, women who work can boost their self-esteem
and increase better acceptance on women in a society. It will give different impact to women who stay inside of the house. They easily get stress because
they cannot do as many work as if they work. Moreover, they cannot interact will a lot of people.
Those struggles are important to do in the patriarchal system which hampers women’s freedom. It is not the time for women to be silent. Yet, it is a
time for women to take a real action and challenge the difficult situation in order to change people perception to them. Hence, women’s struggles can be
the forms of women’s empowerment in order to be equal to men
3. Feminist Literary Criticism
Feminist literary criticism originally emerged when the women’s movement was embarked in the 1960s. Plain and Sellers 2007: 2 states that
feminist literary criticism is an accumulated thought of women’s writing, women’s writing about women and women’s and men’s writing about men
during the century. Thus, feminist literary criticism is a criticism to analyze any works related to women’s thoughts and actions.
Cuddon 1999: 315 explains that feminist literary criticism is an effort to examine women’s behaviors and ideas in any kind of literature: novel, poetry,
and drama. It criticizes the males’ idea and interpretation in literature. It is a
means to evaluate males’ perspective toward women in patriarchal system. Feminist literary criticism challenges the male-based values and gives women
more privilege to explore their idea. Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own in 1929 was a prominent work for
the feminist literary critics. It told about women’s suffering from economic and cultural problems which make them vulnerable. In her work, she criticized that
there were not many women who wrote because they were not given free space to write. The other work which gives big contribution to the better perception
of women’s writing is Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex in 1949. She placed herself as the representation of women who criticized the women’s
importance in the society. She also evaluated the role and identification of women in the cultural system. She analyzed women portrayal in some literary
works such as D.H Lawrence’s and Stendhal’s Cuddon, 1999: 316. Both of the works actually have the same purpose in questioning women’s
position and value in literature. Feminist literary criticism is a criticism that neutralizes biased perception on women found in the literature. Since literature
plays important role to shape the social mind-set, the criticism can become a clarification about the women’s real nature and capability seen from the
women’s perspective. Therefore, it can be a bridge for women to achieve gender inequality.
B. Children’s Literature
Literature is a means to evoke emotional through the meaning it conveys. Literature can not only be enjoyed by adults, yet children can enjoy it too.
Therefore, children’s literature emerges as the avenue for children to develop their reading and analyzing capability independently.
Children’s literature can refer to any forms of literature which are specially created for children. It cannot be denied that children actually need literature
which is specifically purposed for them. However, children’s literature sometimes is still undermined. The marginalization of children book exists in
the writing and publication Hunt, 2002: 1. Not to mention, a lot of parents who thinks that children’s literature is not too prominent for their children.
Therefore, it impacts to the enrolment of children to read children’s literature. Children’s Literature is not only undermined and marginalized. It is also
regarded as less intellectual product. West in Hunt, 2002: 6 states: Throughout the history of children’s literature, the people who have tried
to censor children’s books, for all their ideological differences, share a rather romantic view about the power of books. They believe, or at least
profess to believe, that books are such a major influence in the formation of children’s values and attitudes that adults need to monitor nearly every
word that children read.
It shows that people are still close-minded toward children’s literature. It is true that book can influence the way of thinking of children but it does not
mean that children are less intellectual to filter the idea and the meaning conveyed in the book. The censorship sends a narrative that children are unable
to filter the meaning and they will simply take for granted anything written in the book without thinking and analyzing. Some people reject this opinion.
