Women's Role

So far this book has been pretty interesting although nothing has really happened. Up to this point the author has been basically been giving us background information about the society in which this family lives. As with the novel we read previous to this, An Artist of the Floating World, I experienced a little culture shock when I learned some of the customs and traditions of this society.

I already knew certain things about this culture from geography class before I began reading this book, but after I did begin reading it, I realized that things weren’t exactly the way I thought they were. What I’m referring to specifically is the way women are treated in this society. Before reading this book I thought women in this society were treated in a very restricted kind of way; they were forbidden to do many things and their only role in society seemed to be submissive to and serve men. But I also thought that although they were supposed to be submissive to men they were respected in way; for example, it seemed to me that in certain occasions in which they were forbidden to do certain things it was because they were too highly regarded; too good to do it. However, after beginning to read this novel I found that I was wrong. I still saw the restriction women were subject to that I had learned in previous classes but I didn’t see any respect for them. Instead I saw many instances and comments made about women that disrespected them. The level at which they were disrespected was what gave me the culture shock that I received when I began to read the novel. Since we were asked to pick a certain passage, and concentrate our response defenses on it I picked one that exemplified this disrespect for women. This passage is the first full paragraph on page 9.

The first thing I would like to talk about in this paragraph is this quote: “She returned to the room, closed the door, and pulled a pallet form under the bed. She placed it in front of the sofa and sat crossed legged on it. In a good conscience she did not think she had any right to sit beside him (9).” The woman speaking is Amina; she is telling us about one of many, very frequent, occasions in which her husband went out partying and returned home very late, and intoxicated. Instead of speaking about how disgraceful, immoral, and vulgar behavior this is, she speaks of it like it’s a very normal activity for her husband to do. She also tells her about her ritual in which she wakes up in the middle of the night, waits for him until he gets home, and helps him get ready for bed. As if this weren’t enough she tells us that she sits on the floor because she did not think she had any right to sit beside him. To me this is what crossed the line; I was expecting submission and restriction but a woman not being able to sit next to her husband because she doesn’t think she’s good enough, that’s a whole another level. This makes women not even seem human, it makes them seem like dogs, like filthy dogs that can’t sit next to their owner because they don’t have a right to.

Another thing I would like to talk about in this passage is the following quote: “Time passed without her speaking. She waited until he invited her to speak; then she would (9).” In this quote Amina shows us another example that how women in this society are not respect at all, in fact they don’t even seem like members of a society. When I hear members of a society I picture people who are actively involved in their community and trying to change it (if it needs change) for the better. As we can see from this quote, women can’t even speak without permission; what kind of members of society are they? Also, this whole don’t-speak-until-you-are-spoken-to-thing seems even stranger when we remember the fact that the person Amina is speaking about is her husband. How is it possible that a woman can’t have a carefree conversation with her husband? A woman’s husband is supposed to be her partner in life to whom she can talk to about anything. This makes it seem like women in this society are married to perfect strangers.

After reading this first part of the book I realized that even though I understand that the way I view other societies is shaped by the one I live in, it’s still harder for me to step in the shoes of a person living in other society because our societies are so different. To me it seems like a complete abhorrence the way women live in this society but to them their lifestyle is completely normal. However, this makes me wonder if the only reason these women are ok with their society is because their used to it, and if they were exposed to a society in which they were unrestrained and not submissive they would like it. This curiosity is strengthened even more when I think about my own society a couple of years ago; it didn’t have a lot of rights for women. I guess I just can’t get around the idea in my head about the way they live.

If you would like more information about women's role in Islam see this Wikipedia article.