Female Literary Voices: A Comparative Analysis Using the VIKOR Method in English Literature

This study examines the significant contributions and evolution of women writers in English literature, analysing their impact through a comprehensive assessment based on the VIKOR method. The research assesses five main categories: These women have challenged social norms and offered insightful insights into gender, identity, and power dynamics. Their works often highlight the complexities of women's lives, providing a platform for their voices to be heard in a male-dominated literary world. Women have not only told their own stories through their writing, but have also influenced the course of literary history, adding depth and diversity to the English literary tradition, women in the history of English literature, women's contributions to English literature, and women novelists, considering factors such as literary contribution, thematic depth, practicality, and diversified perspectives. Through the VIKOR analysis, "women writers in English literature" emerged as the most influential category, achieving the highest Qj value of 1, followed by "women in the history of English literature" and "women voices in English literature". The study highlights how women writers have shaped literary traditions since the 18th century, despite facing patriarchal constraints. The research emphasizes the transformative period of the 1970s, when feminist scholars worked to reclaim the forgotten histories of women writers. Notable figures such as Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Elizabeth Gaskell not only captured the ideological attitudes of their era but also highlighted the social challenges faced by women. The study also acknowledges the contributions of post-colonial women writers such as Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Das and Arundhati Roy, who enriched English literature with diverse cultural perspectives. The findings reveal how women’s writing served as a platform to expose social injustices and challenge male dominance, and to create authentic representations of women’s experiences. Modern feminist literary theory has expanded this scope to include intersectional analyses of race, class and cultural identity. The research concludes that women writers have been important in broadening the scope literary expression, continuing to influence the evolution of contemporary literature and ensuring that diverse voices and experiences are represented in the literary canon.