Paper Title
Women‟s Identity in Shobha De‟s Novels with Reference to Socialite Evenings

Abstract
Feminism refers to the advocacy of equal social, economic, political rights to woman. Feminism brings to scrutiny the portrayals of gender roles, which tend to impose social norms, customs, connections, laws and expectations on the grounds of gender discrimination. The feminist ideology began to influence the English literature in India. A number of women writers through their writings offer penetrative insight into the complex issues of women’s life, their sufferings as victims of male hegemony. Shobha De an eminent and most popular Indian women writer in English has an extra ordinary ability to discuss very sensitive aspects of human life tactfully. She believes in a frank narration of incidents and open heartedness. To project urban culture, she has changed tradition picture of enduring, submissive and self-sacrificing women with a new picture of bold and liberated urban women. Shobha De’s novel Socialite Evenings shows the image of a new woman against predatory male dominated society. It is a journey of a prominent Bombay socialite Karuna from a middle class girl to the self-sufficient woman. Keywords - Feminism, Liberated, Patriarchy, Self-identity, Self-realize