Women's empowerment in Leni Zumas's Red Clocks and Christina Dalcher's Vox

The 21st century is marked by the boom of feminist dystopian writing because of the social, cultural, and political movements which paved the way for feminist writers' exploring the concerns for women's rights. Feminist dystopian writing, which portrays a society where women are suppressed, stresses the importance of ongoing efforts to achieve equality and solidarity in society. By focusing on women's reproductive rights and autonomy, these narratives delve into mothers' devalued roles and ongoing struggles in patriarchal society. Leni Zumas's Red Clocks (2018) and Christina Dalcher's Vox (2018) deal with women's restricted role in society and the loss of control over their bodies. Both authors present a world where women's worth is reduced to their ability to bear children. Women characters in both novels are subjected to oppression such as forced pregnancies and reproductive surveillance. Both novels explore socially constructed roles of mothers, the patriarchal oppression women suffer from, women's resilience and empowerment against marginalization within a dystopian context. Zumas's Red Clocks is a networked and fragmented narrative where the plot revolves around five different women living in a small Oregon town and with the outlaw of abortion and fertilization by the Personhood Amendment. Since women have no options, they try to flee the country or follow illegal and lethal abortion procedures in secret. Dalcher's Vox, in the same way, focuses on women's restricted roles in a religious, totalitarian regime. Women are confined within the realm of their houses, and they lose most of their rights in a very short time such as working, travelling, and reading books except Bible. Women are also fitted, with bracelets that prevent them from speaking more than 100 words a day. However, contrary to the essentialist ideology that imprisons women within gender roles, women in both novels find an alternative way of experiencing their motherhood and employ their maternal roles as an act of resistance against the male-dominated society. In addition, both novels show that through solidarity and unity between women and men, the power to challenge the patriarchal order may be attained. Keywords: Motherhood, Matricentric Feminism, Feminist Dystopian Writing, Resistance