Unit 4: Women of Power (1ère Générale)

 

Facing Challenges

Text A

The document under study is an extract from a novel entitled “Stay With me”, written by Ayobami Adabayo, published in 2017. The two main characters are Yejide and Moomi. Yejide is Moomi’s daughter-in-law as she is married to her son. We can deduce that they are at Moomi’s place.

The difficulty Yejide has to face is that her mother-in-law is furious with her because she has not had children yet with her son. In fact, according to Moomi, the only purpose of a woman is to have children, while Yejide has a more modern way of thinking and does not believe in that.

The author is criticizing the thought that a woman should be forced to have children to accomplish society’s expectations. Indeed, women are not only meant to become mothers. They should have the choice to do whatever they want to do for their own good. No one should tell them what to do.

Text B

The document under study is an extract from a book entitled “The Edible Woman”, from Margaret Atwood, published in 1969. In this excerpt, the main character is wondering about her future because she is overqualified as a woman in the society.

The difficulty that the main character faces is that she struggles against the glass-ceiling because when a woman is too educated, she does not fit into society. Indeed, nowadays, well-educated women still struggle to find jobs or positions that fit their qualifications because they play a second role for higher positions. They are victims of a male-dominated world.

The message the author wants to convey is that even though a woman has access to all of the education in the world, due to her gender she would not be able to find a top job that a man with the same education would have. Women face discrimination and gender inequalities in the working world every day.

To conclude, both characters are confronted with discrimination and are prejudiced against because of their gender. They are wondering about the evolution of their future. Indeed, these women are expected to comply with society’s role for them and comply with gender roles. In text A, Yejiede has to become a mother to be considered a woman. In text B, the main character has to downgrade her degrees and her ambitions in order to find a job. In both cases, the situations are unfair, men and women should be treated on equal-footing.

 Homework: Learn the lesson.