Through the Lens of Gender Conflict Theory: Female Element in Tibetan Literature and Religion
- DOI
- 10.2991/assehr.k.201215.500How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- Feminism, Literature, Tibet, Female writers, Religion, Gender conflict theory
- Abstract
Buddhism, the most practiced religion in Tibet, has been ideologically restricted to Tibetan women through teachings since ancient times. However, since Tibet’s independence in 1951, women’s status within Tibetan society has improved. With more educational opportunities, women gradually stepped out of their traditional role as a caretaker in religion and generated new discussion. Literature creation became a means for women to fight against male dominance. This paper will examine how Tibetan female authors employ literature to redefine the meaning of gender and how they use literature and the religion Buddhism to challenge male dominance in the society. Gender conflict theory, one of the philosophical thoughts in gender studies, has its limitation in that it neglects the empowerment of women and how they reshape social power. Therefore, this paper will use examples of Tibetan females to clarify the weakness of this theory. I will argue that Tibetan females choose literature as a tool to challenge traditional religious beliefs on females through literature analysis. Under such influence, women in Tibet today have changed their expectation of simply being a housewife in a closed spatial structure and sought out new roles in the society, indicating the rising up of female’s status in Tibet.
- Copyright
- © 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Yishan Yu PY - 2020 DA - 2020/12/17 TI - Through the Lens of Gender Conflict Theory: Female Element in Tibetan Literature and Religion BT - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2020) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 574 EP - 578 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201215.500 DO - 10.2991/assehr.k.201215.500 ID - Yu2020 ER -