Gender Inequalities in Malawi

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Socialization agents are factors within our culture that not only affects us as individuals, but the society in which we reside; sources from which we learn about ourselves and our culture. What’s socially acceptable for women in American culture, may pose as disobedience in another. This proves to be true in individualism culture of Americans as opposed to collectivism culture found in South Africans. Makanga (2011) claims there is always been an imbalance in African cultures, though in female to male ratio women far exceed men, they remain underserved and unrecognized as holding significant value. This is due to traditions and beliefs passed on for generations, viewed as the only accepted way of living.

Web. 4 Dec 2011.

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Knapp, Barbara, Sperling, Gene B. What Works in Girl’s Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World. New York: Foreign Relations, 2004. Manuh, Takyiwaa, “Women in Africa’s Development: overcoming obstacles, pushing for progress”. Number 11, April 1998. http://un.org/ecosocdev/ Razavi, Shahrashoub and Miller, Carol.

The Canadian writer is known for the hints of feminism in her novels but The Handmaid’s Tale strays away from slight feminism to radical feminism. Feminism is an ideology that favors women’s equality to men and it has been an issue for centuries. In the United States, women did not get the right to vote until the 1920’s and women were also not accepted into the workforce until around the 1960’s (Loveday). Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale depicts feminism in an antifeminist environment through, point of view, restrictions on women, and male power. Because of the increasing infertility rates, the Republic decided to enforce the use of Handmaids.

Global Issues In Context. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Haghighat, Elhum. "Social status and change: the question of access to resources and women's empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa."

Throughout my research I've encountered numerous papers on the rights women do have in Igbo society, on the importance of women in this society. They site the role of widows in Igbo society as well as the respect given to the first wife as proof that while this society is not an ideal situation for women, it is hardly the misogynist society that some make it out to be. I passionately disagree. It is obvious to me that to the characters in Things Fall Apart, women are "things" to be exploited, abused and to serve as second-class citizens to the rank of male privilege. The theme of misogyny runs rampant throughout the text whether it is exposed by the absence of women in the text, the abuses women suffer at the hands of men, or the subtle ways in which society dictates and reinforces these negative statuses and images of women.