AustLit

'This thesis examines seven Australian novels written by women in different periods over the last one hundred years. Its point of departure is Simone de Beauvoir's characterization of relations between the genders where men are the "one" and women are consigned to an inferior status of the "other" .

'In the light of the questions which Beauvoir poses about how women can attain fulfilment in their oppressed condition this thesis examines the nature of the social relations portrayed in the novels, the extent to which the principal female characters' choices were dictated by them and how those characters address the problems of self perception and realization.' (Thesis description)