LANGUAGE, GENDER, AND POLITICS: FEMINIST STYLISTICS IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF BENAZIR BHUTTO AND INDIRA GANDHI

Abstract

In this study, we conduct a feminist stylistic analysis of the autobiographies of two leading South Asian female political prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi. Our aim is to understand how Bhutto and Gandhi narrated their identity by analyzing 'Daughter of the East' & Indira Gandhi: A Biography, and how they addressed patriarchy in their narratives. Using the feminist stylistics paradigm developed by Sara Mills, we examine how these leaders manage their political and personal identities through their use of style — at the lexical, sentence, and discourse levels. Our analysis reveals the deep penetration of patriarchal norms and the high rhetorical performance of feminists in addressing these challenges. The results of our study significantly contribute to feminist literary criticism and extend our knowledge of the nexus between politics, gender, and narrative ways of meaning.