Otherness as an opportunity for recognition: female identity and cultural inclusion

Abstract

Simone de Beauvoir, in “Le Deuxième Sexe” (1949), shows how female identity has been constructed as subordinate and defined in relation to that of men. Women have been confined to predetermined spaces and functions, and for centuries, their condition has been interpreted through categories of otherness and belonging. Perceived as “Other”, women have been relegated to roles and positions according to strict cultural conventions. In contemporary society, this notion of belonging becomes increasingly complex in the context of globalization, migration, cultural pluralism. We are faced with an ambivalence: on the one hand, women are prominent and protagonists in the processes of emancipation; on the other, they are still confronted with a structural and cultural marginalization.

This study aims to analyse how the female experience manages to transform otherness into an opportunity for recognition, and how women can redefine the concept of belonging in an inclusive and multicultural sense.