Women’s Agency: A Response to Masculine Configuration in the Poems of Warsan Shire

Haider Ihsan Dawar; Maria Shah

ORIENTAL COLLEGE MAGAZINE, Vol # 102, Issue # 1
Women’s Agency: A Response to Masculine Configuration in the Poems of Warsan Shire

Women’s Agency: A Response to Masculine Configuration in the Poems of Warsan Shire

Haider Ihsan Dawar/
Maria Shah/
April 20, 2026

Keywords

Masculinity, Resistance, Ideology, Oppressions

Abstract

This paper explores the construction of masculinity and its intersectional effects on women in Somali society in Warsan Shire’s Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, a collection of poetry. Drawing upon R. W. Connell’s conceptualisation of hegemonic masculinity, Louis Althusser’s concept of ideology, with additional support from other feminist theorists, the research studies how the patriarchal system socially engineers gender and develops unequal power relations. The analysis uncovers the manifestation of masculinity in Somali culture via social institutions that privilege men while subordinating women across gender, racial, and class hierarchies. Shire’s poetry portrays these structures through vivid depictions of domestic, sexual, and economic oppression, demonstrating the internalisation and perpetuation of patriarchal ideology through cultural narratives and social practices. Moreover, Shire’s work voices resistance—asserting knowledge, solidarity, and self-awareness as forms of empowerment. Within the framework of feminist, masculinity, and cultural theoretical paradigms, this research establishes Shire’s work as both a critique of systemic oppression and an articulation of women’s agency in reclaiming subjectivity. Ultimately, the study underscores Shire’s contribution to Somali and global feminist discourse, highlighting her poetic reconstruction of gendered identities as a call for social transformation and equality.

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[1]. ibid, 71-72

[1]. ibid, 83

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[1]. Divya Hariharan, “A Transformation in the Feministic Poetry of the Past and the Present,” 328.

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[1]. Ibid., 58.

[1]. Divya Hariharan, “A Transformation in the Feministic Poetry of the Past and the Present,” 327.

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[1]. Divya Hariharan, “A Transformation in the Feministic Poetry of the Past and the Present,” 328.

[1]. Ibid., 328.

[1]. Ibid., 329.

[1]. Jakhrani, Muhammad Haroon, and Muhammad Hassan Shaikh. “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Warsan Shire’s Poem ‘The House.’” ISAR Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 1, no. 3 (September 8, 2023): 5–10, 5

[1]. Sánchez, Mayte Cantero. “‘Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth’”, 57.

[1]. Micheal, Janito. “Malevolent Dogma and Frigidity: Collective Trauma in Warsan Shire’s ‘Girls.’” Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education 13, no. 2 (2017): 583–87, 585.

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[1]. Ibid., 2022.

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[1]. ibid., 71

[1]. ibid., 71.

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[1]. Shire, Warsan. Bless the Daughter, 2022

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[1]. ibid., 72.

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[1]. Althusser, Louis. On the reproduction of capitalism, 79.

[1]. Connell, Robert W. "Masculinities, (2005), 68.