Women’s Resistance to Patriarchal Culture and Gender Inequality in Ayu Utami’s Novel Saman and Georgette Heyer’s a Lady in Disguise: The Corinthian A Study in Radical Feminism

Herson Kadir (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Yulianti Pongaliu (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Fairuzia (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Srisusanti A. Kunuti (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Fendra Amelia Abdullah (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Wardatul Magfirah Dehiyo (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)
Cindra Datau (Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo)

IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature
Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Lite

This study aims to describe the form of women's resistance against patriarchal culture and the form of women's resistance against gender injustice in the novel Saman by Ayu Utami and the novel A Lady in Disguise: The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with a radical feminist theory approach to reveal the representation of patriarchal culture and gender injustice experienced by female characters in both novels. The research data sources are the novel Saman published in 1998A, and the novel A Lady in Disguise: The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer published by Noura Books in 2017. The data collection technique is carried out through reading and note-taking techniques, namely reading the novel in depth and then noting quotations that show the form of women's resistance against patriarchal culture and gender injustice. The data are analyzed through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study show that the novel Saman and A Lady in Disguise: The Corinthian both depict women's resistance against patriarchal culture and gender injustice. In the novel Saman, the focus is more on women's bodily freedom and sexuality, while the resistance in the novel A Lady in Disguise: The Corinthian is more apparent in the rejection of male domination in social and domestic life.