With recent overhauls to the Ontario primary school language curriculum, the provincial government is starting to recognize the importance of education that incorporates diverse voices.
But a major concern lingers: what other voices have still been left out?
Upon examination, high school classroom syllabi has excluded, and continues to exclude, female voices.
Prevalent issues relating to women and other minorities, such as gender inequalities across Canada or climate change exasperating the risk factors for gender-based violence, continue to exist in 2024.
Canadian women face fewer opportunities for economic participation, poorer health outcomes and disproportionate rates of intimate partner violence and sexual violence, just to name a few.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to start adding feminist literature to the list of explored perspectives.
Making feminist literature a required teaching in all English classrooms raise awareness and spur change. Rectifying this curriculum oversight would contribute to a more equitable and understanding society.
Empathy and understanding
Requiring students to engage with feminist literature broadens their worldview, fostering a more welcoming community environment — one built on empathy, understanding and respect.
When we read widely and diversely, we become cognizant of perspectives and lived experiences that might be different from our own. Students of all ages gain a deeper understanding of their peers and the world around them.
Reading diversely has also been linked to higher levels of reading comprehension, enhancing students’ educational experience as well as their personal growth.
By reading a variety of genres, students can allow themselves to be transported into another’s mind and learn from their perspective. Applying this sentiment to feminist literature, students gain the skills to understand the roots of oppressionand stand up for the rights of all members of society.
This contributes to a more inclusive school community and, eventually, a more inclusive society.
By providing a platform for the struggles and experiences of women to be better understood and vocalized, we help generate awareness. In turn, this helps generate change.
We cannot change what we do not pay attention to.
Agents of change
Feminist literature often features powerful themes like Fs autonomy, empowerment, workforce equity and equality in relationships. Important classroom exposure to these feminist themes and the historical challenges will empower young women to dismantle gender roles and stereotypes.
Feminist literature often challenges traditional narratives and societal expectations of gender, encouraging readers to think more critically about existing gender structures
Think of how Charlotte Parkins Gilman critiques the patriarchal structure in The Yellow Wallpaper. By showing the lengths female characters will go to gain autonomy, Gilman challenges the oppressive gender roles present in the cis-hetero marriage structure.
Or consider how Alice Walker crafts a brilliant work of intersectional feminism, empowerment and resistance in her novel The Colour Purple. Through a wide cast of characters that defy societal expectations through their bond with one another, Walker resists the traditional Western gender binary and the oppression of not only women, but specifically Black women.
Walker approaches race, gender, sexuality and class intersectionality to demonstrate the interconnectedness of systems of oppression and their impact on the lives of characters with multiple diverse identities.
Improved thinkers
These diverse books and characters have the power to spark a more equitable society by opening discussions about advocating for marginalized groups’ rights and raising inequality awareness among students.
They also show how feminist literature and its commentaries on society help students develop key critical thinking skills necessary for all areas of life.
By engaging with feminist literature, students can analyze implied messages and motivations relating to social inequities, understanding them within the context in which authors wrote their works as well as establishing modern connections.
Reading diverse literature, especially works that reflect students’ own experiences, has been proven to increase students’ ability to draw connections within texts and increase subsequent success in critical thinking questions.
Feminist literature gives students the important ability to engage with past and present social and gender issues and start thinking critically about the society we live in.
Mirrors to ourselves
Feminist literature promotes empowerment among readers by allowing students who have historically been left out of narratives finally see themselves as part of the conversation.
Whether through their background, the way they were raised, how they look or feel, or their identity, it’s important for all readers to see themselves represented in literature. This genre of literature is often referred to as “mirror books.”
Mirror books offer validation and understanding of students’ lived experiences. They show students that they are not isolated in their hardships, nor alone in their feelings.
This sense of belonging, comfort and connection is a fundamental aspect of our makeup and development as human beings.
Statistically, students are more likely to gravitate toward literature in which they see themselves, and present a more interested, active engagement with classroom materials.
First Book Canada reported “students’ reading time increased by four hours per week on average after educators added new, diverse books to their classroom,” motivating students to develop key literacy skills that will help them be successful later in life.
Intersectional feminist works inspire readers to reflect on their own lives, break down internalized struggles and recognize external injustices.
Feminist literature helps students understand they are equal to other members of society and not beholden to societal constrictions.
Implementing change
The importance of incorporating feminist literature in classrooms, and a curriculum that reflects all students, shows up in many areas of our lives.
Whether it be through the development of empathy, critical thinking or the significance of seeing oneself represented through text, feminist literature helps forge a more understanding and equitable society.
Through a formal indictment of language curricula and teacher training, we must advocate for the integration of feminist literature into Ontario high school language classrooms.
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji.
