Becoming Women

This study aims to analyze how the structure of colonial-era patriarchy and local cultural traditions shape women’s subjectivity in Southeast Asia through literary works. The objects of study in this research include The Purification of Sita by Leila S. Chudori (Indonesia), Foolish by Aminah Haji Momin (Brunei Darussalam), The Mayor of the Roses by Marianne Villanueva (the Philippines), and An Umbrella by Ma Sandar (Myanmar). This study employs a feminist literary criticism approach, using Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminist theory as the analytical framework. Data were analyzed using hermeneutic analysis through close reading, textual interpretation, and comparative interpretation. The results of the study indicate that there is a common pattern of representation in Southeast Asian literature: women are portrayed as subjects experiencing layered oppression through patriarchal structures inherited from colonial and cultural legacies. This suggests that the independence of Southeast Asian nations has not yet fully impacted the emancipation of women.