Kirokian 1

Berj Kirokian
Professor Makarosyan
English 114B
May 11, 2015
Essay #3 Prompt
For this project you will closely examine and analyze Maxine Hong Kingstons Woman Warrior:
Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts and choose a social issue raised by any of the books short
stories other than White Tiger to, both, research and write about in a thesis driven
argumentative essay.

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Equal Treatment Towards All
Society seems to be very civilized and technologically advanced, not looking anything
like it did back then. However, societies such as India have traits that are reminiscent to when
society was first established, such as treating women differently than men. Obviously, there are
practices and beliefs that should remain intact from when society was first built such as
traditional marriages. While, keeping valuable ideas and practices alive from the early days of
society, there are certain beliefs that have to end such as gender equality. In the short story No
Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston illustrates how a woman with no husband had a child
and was virtually scolded by society that lead her to ultimately committing suicide. Furthermore,
one can argue if a man was put in this predicament the treatment he would have gotten from
society is leaps and bounds less severe compared to a woman. Society as a whole is progressing
everyday for the better yet, gender equality is a major issue because women are still viewed in
ways as they were all the way back when societies were first established.
I like to garner the attention to India where women are not equal to men. They have kept
traditions that have been going on for centuries including the infamous one regarding gender
equality. That being the case, in India there approach stands out, Traditional patriarchal norms
have relegated women to secondary status within the household and workplace (Waite).
Obviously, India is stuck in a time period that no longer exists, they have retained a practice that
is outdated and that is not right. When society as a whole is stuck in the past its very difficult for
that society to progress in a positive way.
Education defines a person, in other words a person with an education is held to a
different standard then a person without one. If everyone in society had an opportunity to get
education, most would seize the moment and take it but in India women do not have a choice.

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Additionally, only 54 percent of Indian women are literate as compared to 76 percent of men
(Waite). The percentage is sad to see, a tad bit more than half of women are literate that is not a
strong percentage. If women were given the opportunity to get an education they would help
India in a plethora of ways. With that in mind, if India gives the chance for women to perform
duties, their society will elevate to a whole other level.
It is always important to give something a chance, without doing so society would not be
as advanced as it is today. Specifically, women were given a chance during World War 2 to
display to the world what they are capable of and did they not disappoint. When men left,
women became proficient cooks and housekeepers, managed the finances, learned to fix the car,
worked in a defense plant, and wrote letters to their soldier husbands that were consistently
upbeat (Otto). Women displayed their character and their ability to do duties without a man
alongside them. They helped society during those tough times by contributing with ways they
were never allowed to contribute before. Simply put, without the womens contributions during
the war it would have been more difficult than it already was during that time.
When traditions are challenged or altered society has a tough time accepting it for what it
is. There is this saying If it aint broke dont fix it well society was following that saying by
never giving women a mans job. Nevertheless, when men were sent to fight for World War 2
there was no choice but to give those manly jobs to women. U.S factories retooled for war
production. New facilities greatly expanded industrial output and women were a significant
part of the labor force. Women kept the country running by filling traditionally male jobs (Otto).
When the women were given that opportunity they took it and ran with it. It made men secondguess how they view women from that point on. In short, they were the driving force of the
Unites States not crumbling under the extreme tribulations by taking mens jobs and thriving in

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them.
Not only is there a problem with women getting the same opportunities as men do in the
work field but also getting treated the same in other aspects of life. A great example comes from
the short story No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston where the woman gave birth to
her child without a husband. It was probably a girl; there is some hope of forgiveness for boys"
(15 Kingston). So growing up for that girl was very difficult because of her mother giving birth
with no husband, this was looked down upon in this society. As one might expect society gave
the girl a tough time growing up. Interestingly, the narrator brought up a very valid point, saying
that if it were a boy life would have been much easier for him. This is suggesting that with a boy
they can make something of him at least, with the girl on the other hand she is going to be like
the rest and there is already plenty of them.
Feeding off the last paragraph it seems to be India agrees with the society in the short
story No Name Woman by favoring men over women. In India the families hope to have boys
over girls, A strong "son preference" exists in the region, as it does throughout the country, and
high rates of female infanticide and female feticide plague the area. In 2001, for every 1,000
males living in Rajasthan there were only 922 women (Waite). This is just awful to hear
preferring one gender over the other. When someone hears this quote one would think that this is
from the Medieval times or what not where they generally preferred to have men for their
combat skills. In todays India if they would just give the same chances to the women this
thinking mentality by India would not exist because they will prove the men wrong by doing
anything they can do.
In India having a boy over a girl is like hitting the jackpot for them as far as economic
advantages go. Unfortunately, the Indian people know that having girl does not give them any

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advantages due to their cultural traditions. Having sons is economically advantageous to
families due to cultural institutions; these institutions serve to drastically devalue the roles
women play in the traditional society (Thakur). With the way their society has been setup its
obvious a boy will be setup to succeed while a girl will be setup to fail. This mentality does not
work in the girls favor at all because growing up there is nothing to strive for, which can
ultimately hurt their psyche tremendously. Having this mindset does no good for any society
because it causes men to treat the women as subordinates, which can cause serious problems.
Indias mindset toward women has left the men doing some unthinkable things to them.
India has one of the highest rape rates in the world and its only increasing every year. Statistics
from Indias National Crime Records Bureau show that incidents of reported rape in the country
increased 35.2 percent between 2012 and 2013 (Thakur). These rape rates should be going
down over time not going up especially with how advanced the world has become but in India
they are running a society that does not correlate with todays day and age. Also, the quote says
these are reported rapes so there must be a whole lot more since the women are subordinate to
men and there are some who are afraid to report the crime. There is a reason why Americans say
that India is the rape capital of the world because there society runs in a way that its inevitable
that crimes like rape will happen to women because there subordinate to men.
With all of the negatives going around in India towards women there is a conservative
effort to make a change. India has created some networks to help create opportunities for women
to establish themselves without a husband in their respective lives. In Rajasthan several NGOs
that have hosted FSD participants are instrumental in providing opportunities for women. These
organizations help to build networks among women to create financial self-help groups
(Thakur). Its a great thing to see them build these organizations that will help start the change in

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India slowly. Furthermore, its gives these women a better perspective of life with the additional
education they obtain from these organizations. With the help of organizations like this it will
help spread awareness that women can do anything a man can do.
All these small organizations can actually cause significant change in this Indian society.
Women are not only doing what men can do but also want to do it because they joined those
organizations, they were not forced into them. Organizing change at a local level and planning
participatory action will help to eliminate bias and stereotypes, and generate awareness of the
significant gender divide that exists within Indian society (Otto). It will not happen overnight
but what significant problem has changed quickly, for example African Americans fought for
centuries to get equal rights. If they stay the course and keep persisting to demand change it will
happen but its going to take a team effort from all the women to cause this awareness of gender
equality. For instance, in the United States women waited a long time to be looked at as equal to
men even though some people still look at women as not equal yet, but their situation is a whole
lot better than Indias.
In todays day and age it is strange to see women put in the predicament they are in after
all the trial and tribulations this whole world has been through. With all is said and done there is
nothing society can do besides improve on the current situations revolving around womens
rights. They have proved in all countries where they are looked at as equal to be huge
contributors to society just as men are. Indeed, there is a long road ahead for the women in India
but if they stay persistence to making a change, the day will come where they will be looked at
as equals in India.

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Works Cited
Kingston, Maxine H. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York:
Vintage International, 1989. Print.
Otto, Kate. "Gender Equity Issues in India." Gender Equity Issues in India. FSD, 2 Feb.
2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.
Thakur, Udit. "India Doesnt Understand Its Rape Problem." Foreign Policy India Doesnt
Understand Its Rape Problem Comments. Foreign Policy, 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Apr.
2015.
Waite, Linda. "The Communitarian Network." The Communitarian Network. The
Communitarian Network, 2 Mar. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

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