BEYOND GENDER REVERSAL: RECALIBRATED HEGEMONY IN EGALIA’S DAUGHTERS AND THE POWER

Abstract

This article offers a comparative analysis of Gerd Brantenberg's Egalia’s Daughters (1977) and Naomi Alderman's The Power (2016), focusing on how both works challenge patriarchal power structures and gender and authority dynamics through matriarchal reversals. Based on Foucault’s concept of power relation, Gramsci’s idea of cultural hegemony and Beauvoir’s theory of gender as constructed alterity, along with Utopian/Dystopian studies and post structuralist feminism criticism, this study investigates how these writings create other worlds in which women occupy traditionally male-dominated roles. The study discusses the ethical and social ramifications of the transfer of power through the theoretical representation of female supremacy by Alderman, as well as the cultural construction and arbitrary nature of patriarchy through Brantenberg's humorous redefining of gender roles. The comparison reveals both parallels and divergences between the two novels' thematic objectives and outcomes: While The Power sends a warning about how power (not gender) can corrupt people and create a dominance cycle, Egalia’s Daughters is a parody that uses humour to teach about gender equality by highlighting the ridiculousness of gender conventions. This article comes to the conclusion that the novels are profound documents of structural inequality rather than merely role reversals, challenging the reader to envision more egalitarian and inclusive power structures that are not predicated on binary gender hierarchies.