• SAMEA HALEEM

The two decades 1960s and 1970s witnessed the emergence of British feminist movement with the holding of the first British Women’s Liberation Conference’ in 1969 in Oxford. The movement became a political force with world-renowned writers and artists from across the continent and USA joining forces to identify the wrongs being committed against the embattled fair sex, and to voice women’s claim for enfranchisement, liberty, and emancipation from oppression by the male-dominated society. Some who did succeed in their ambitions had to make ignominious sacrifice of their feminine traits. Indeed, women were being accused of witchcraft and promiscuity as well. The decade 1980s marked the end of the stilted progress of the movement with the rise of Margaret Thatcher as the prime minister of Britain. According to Betsko and Koenig (1987), “In fact things have got much worse under Thatcher”. Advocates of Tory party (Ranciere, 2009, pp. 37-39) were jubilant at the “triumph of capitalism and the deregulation of the market”, because capitalism together with patriarchy constituted the male ownership of capital, the woman being the loser. There was “widespread agreement that Thatcherism has seriously damaged women’s interests in Britain in the economic and social fields” (Jessop, 2015: 48). Through her socialist-feminist narrative Churchill deep involvement in feminist issues is reflected in her debut play ‘Cloud Nine’ and later in other plays, where Churchill exposes the degradation of women and the connivance of institutions like the Church and medicine and society in targeting women. At the time Churchill was writing, Millet (1980: 25) theorized, “If one takes patriarchal government to be an institution --- principles of patriarchy appear to be two fold - male shall dominate female, elder male shall dominate younger: through this system a most ingenious form of interior colonization has been achieved.” How the Churchillian narrative of feminism is viewed in the current Indian and western environment, and how it has been thwarted by politicians and leaders is discussed with the help of true examples.

feminism; patriarchy; oppression; playwright; witchcraft; emancipation; and Churchillian narrative.

"Miniscule obeisance to Caryl Churchill’s ideal of feminism and unwarranted rat race: Western and Indian perspectives in contemporary times", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 5, page no.755-758, MAY-2018, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1805867.pdf

"Miniscule obeisance to Caryl Churchill’s ideal of feminism and unwarranted rat race: Western and Indian perspectives in contemporary times", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 5, page no. pp755-758, MAY-2018, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1805867.pdf