A gender-focused approach to Oya Baydar's novels

Emerging in the last quarter of the 18th century, feminism emerged on a legal basis as a movement struggling against sexist oppression and exploitation of women, and this struggle brought about some gains that included political demands and the recognition of women's existence. Rejecting the imprisonment of women by the assumptions we call gender, feminism has targeted patriarchal society and its institutions that ignore the will of women. Citing the biological differences between men and women, gender has imprisoned women at home by making them responsible for the service of men. With marriage and motherhood, the woman's besiegement deepened, and her inability to discover her self and her adoption of roles imposed by society led to her alienation. In this study, Oya Baydar's novels are analyzed in terms of their conformity and contradictions to gender roles. In this analysis based on feminist approaches, Baydar's female characters represent different generations, and this intergenerational difference causes changes in the starting point of women's struggle. Time is not the only factor in states of femininity, class differences are also presented as determining factors of femininity. The common denominator of the female characters we evaluate in the context of gender roles is that they experience motherhood under the shadow of traditional patterns. While Baydar addresses the issue of women with an existential approach, she also examines the fact that gender condemns men and criticizes patriarchal norms through contradictory masculinities. Keywords: Feminism, gender, existentialism, Oya Baydar