Female Writings in Times of Crisis

Abstract

This chapter presents a critical study of female writing practices in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in contrasting cultures, ethnicities, social classes, and educational levels. It studies 10 personal narratives by Arab and American women responding to the global coronavirus crisis in writing. The authors' responses vary and their narratives of crisis, whether short stories, personal essays, or testimonies, represent the heterogeneity of each woman's life experience. The study examines women's gendered reactions in these narratives as presenting a new kind of subjectivity that women adopt to respond to life crises, to overcome pain, to express emotions, to create meaning, and to build communications and coalitions. Writing becomes an instrumental voice for these women to self-discovery, healing, and empowerment. By adopting a transnational literary feminist theoretical approach as well as a sociolinguistic one, the study explores a complex relationship between crisis, gender, and writing that reveals how female subjects use the narrative form in times of crisis.