Tikrit University

The Role of Poetry in Gender Equality Awareness Education among Youth

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of English, Imam Ja'afar Al-Sadiq University

Abstract
Modern educational methods, in general, and literary texts, in particular, have played immensely important roles in bringing awareness to young students concerning the notion of the female- male binary relationship in society. This objective has been fulfilled through women’s literary works, which are considered powerful materials contributing toward female empowerment in the culture of masculinity. Post-1980s, feminist works are used in education as a part of the teaching curriculum to address gender equality imbalance in society. The analysis of feminist writers’ texts and their discourses is at the core of ongoing debates and the evolving pedagogical methods of the contemporary educational sphere. Accordingly, Carol Ann Duffy, a most notable feminist poet, known for her poetics dexterity, has worked on addressing gender and female identity. Her poems have been published and referred to in academic works, magazines, and internet forums. At the same time, her poetry has been instrumental in improving the themes and goals of educational syllabuses at the primary and secondary school levels as well as those of higher education institutions at the national level. This paper sought to reveal the vital role of literary language and mainly feminist literary works in radically enhancing educational syllabuses. The study will be conducted through examining the main themes of selected poems from Duffy’s The World’s Wife which have been taught in academia. This paper concludes that Duffy’s poems have encoded the importance of literary language in communicating a specific morality as well as stimulating a target generation or society.

Keywords


Volume 3, Issue 1
Autumn 2019
Pages 20-28

  • Receive Date 12 November 2019
  • Accept Date 25 November 2019
  • Publish Date 01 December 2019