The Significance of Gender Roles in Julia Alvarez's Novel In the Time of the Butterflies

Out from the kitchen and into the world, women are making a better name for themselves. Although humankind tends to be male dominated, men are not the only species that inhabit the world that they live on. In Julia Alvarez's novel In the Time of the Butterflies, the women of the Dominican Republic are expected to grow up to be housewives and lacking a formal education. Women may be cherished like national treasures, but they are not expected to fulfill their truest potentials as human beings.

Like most things in the world, they have their place. A man's place is to get their education and to get a substantial job that would bring in the money for his family. Women were not expected to attend school or to get a job that exceeded from a housewife or a housekeeper. When Minerva tells her family that she aspires to become a lawyer, her Mother does not take her seriously. "'Ay, Dios mio, spare me. ... Just what we need, skirts in the law'" (10)! It is because women like Minerva do not typically think of doing a job that involve family or cleaning, the dream is laughable. The implication is that women studying law is considered "out-of-place." Therefore, stating that women are not expected to desire or be capable of doing something that a man can.

Women are not only assumed to only take care of their family, but to not have the education that they do rightfully deserve. Women can contribute to the world as plentiful and gloriously as men can, but the chances are not given to them. For example, when Minerva tells Trujillo that she dreams of attending the University to study law, he replies "'The University is no place for a woman these days'" (99). Trujillo implies that by going to school to heighten her education, it would be ...

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...emselves, they would not have to have orders given to him and be expected to follow them. Both quotes clarify that women succumb into what they are expected to be and thus not achieve what they could have.

Women are restricted or thought lower than men because of gender roles. They could be adored and treasured as much as they want, but that does not change the fact that they are still limited to only so many options. Women are just as brilliant and capable as men are, however they are not given the opportunity to flaunt these feats. It is because women are also a part of this world, they should be recognized what who they truly are not what they are just expected to be. Humankind must be aware that females can do just about anything a man can do, and they can do more than just spend hours in the kitchen.

Works Cited
Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies