6 - Reconfiguring patriarchy: suffragette and feminist plays

Summary

In the 1960s, concomitant with the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests, women grew more conscious of their disadvantaged position in society. The feminist movement agitated for a variety of social improvements: advancement in employment, equal wages for equal work, childcare facilities, measures to curb violence against women, the right to abortion (and in some countries for contraception and divorce), etc. The movement also mobilized around women's health issues, and it organized consciousness-raising groups across the country to discuss women's experiences and concerns with the body (health, body image, femininity and hygiene, etc.), and to increase awareness of the need for reform. Feminist theatre provided support for the feminist movement, adopting various strategies and modes for critiquing the hegemonic structures of society. Theatre like most professions was a male-dominated medium. Male directors and playwrights tended to gravitate towards male themes and male characters and so the imbalance tended to perpetuate itself. Women directors and playwrights experienced difficulty in being taken seriously. Women actors were expected to play characters within certain stereotypes – the seducing, corrupting or enslaving woman who limits the male's freedom, the doting wife or girlfriend, or the irrational, unstable female who cannot cope with reality.