Understanding Sisterhood in the Postcolonial-Feminist Interface

Abstract

Postcolonial Feminism arose as a response to Western Mainstream Feminism. The unheard voice and whispers of lives lived and lost within four-foot rooms and of those neglected based on race, religion, creed, class, and colour deserve their space and are expressed through the postcolonial-feminist interface. Postcolonial Feminism is about the colonised women whom higher-class women or men put down; gender specificity fades in the light of the problems discussed by these women. Postcolonial Feminism has never operated as a separate entity from postcolonialism; rather, it has directly inspired the forms of postcolonial politics. Where its feminist focus is foregrounded, it comprises non-Western feminism, which negotiates the political demands of nationalism, socialist Feminism, liberalism, and eco-feminism, alongside the social challenges of everyday patriarchy. This research article focuses on the necessity of universal sisterhood in the postcolonial era, where women of all races, colours and creeds come together and fight as one. This article also analyses the double standard of Feminism as depicted in bell hooks’ essay “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand”. The lives of Third World women are also scrutinised to prove that not all women’s stories are the same, and hence, different platforms are needed for such discourses to be developed and flourish. Postcolonial Feminism will be the guide to bring back mainstream Feminism to its focus and thus to accomplish the real vision.