In the novel, I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai gender discrimination is a constant theme and is occurs throughout the book in several situations. Malala begins chapter one talking about her birth and she says, "When I was born, some of our relatives came to our house and told my mother, 'Don't worry, next time you will have a son.'" (Yousafzai). When a daughter is born, families are often disappointed because, in their world and government, the only things women are useful for are cooking, cleaning, and pushing out baby boys. Women have many restrictions and are practically forced to get married young, give birth children, and take care of their family and house of the rest of their life. Reading this book helped us realize how lucky and fortunate we are to be born into the country and specifically our families that value education and gender equality. Millions of people every day are deprived of their civil rights, schooling, food on the table and a roof over their heads. Reading I Am Malala has opened our eyes and made us realize that we are beyond lucky to have free public schooling and easy transportation from our houses to our schools. Malala nearly got killed commuting to school after women's education was banned by the Taliban and she would do it again so that she could go to school and learn. Malala inspires us to work hard in school and utilize the all of the opportunities we are given every single day that many children may only get once in a lifetime. Malala inspires us through her words. For example, she says, "We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage." After reading this book, we no longer take for granted our schooling, supportive parents, and our rights as women. Even though Malala's parents are supportive and she does get to go to school, we realized that many girls her age and in her country do not live a life like her and we are beyond lucky to live the life we live.
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"Learn this now and learn this well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman." These are the words spoken by Mariam's mother in the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini This novel is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to early 2000s and the main characters Mariam and Laila experience gender oppression in many scenarios. When Mariam suggests getting an education to her mother, she replies, "Whats the sense schooling a girl like you? It's like shining a spittoon...only one skill a woman like you and me needs in life...Endure" (page 18). Mariam's mother is very controlling and does not want her to leave the kolba. To prevent Mariam from wanting to go to school, she tells Mariam indirectly that she is dumb and that she will get laughed at in school. A couple of chapters later, Nana kills herself and then Mariam is sent to her biological father's house in Herat where she will be married off to a 45-year-old man in Kabul. Her husband, Rasheed, is controlling of Mariam and wants her to himself. He does not introduce her to his friends or family, he forces her to wear a burqa, and when guests come to their house, Mariam is not allowed to be downstairs with the guests, she must be hidden away in her bedroom. He sees her as his possession rather than a human being and completely dominates her life and their marriage. This concept of women existing to serve men is outrageous and a common occurrence in marriages throughout the Middle East. Many women in the Middle East just like Mariam are forced into arranged marriages just like this with older, abusive, men that control their lives and no way to escape. The second protagonist, Laila, comes later in the book when she is cared for by Rasheed and Mariam when her house is destroyed, and her parents are killed by a rocket. Laila was much luckier than many other girls like Mariam who never saw the inside of a classroom. Growing up, Laila was blessed to have a caring father that valued education so much that he wanted her to go to school which was not common among fathers in Afghanistan at the time. Unfortunately, due to the Taliban who were against girls education, Laila stopped attending school because it was becoming too dangerous. After Laila had been living at their house for a while, she gets married to Rasheed. Laila serves as another piece of Rasheed's property and another possession to abuse after she gave birth to a baby girl when he wanted a boy. Due to gender inequality, the birth of a boy is much more cherished than a girl because boys are the dominant sex in their culture and a girl is useless to Rasheed. Rasheed is outrageous that Laila gave birth to a girl and resents her and the baby. Laila's next child is a boy and Rasheed could not be happier. He is so excited that he now has a boy that he buys things for the boy, Zalmai, that they cannot afford. Rasheed runs out of money and Mariam, and Laila is forced to bring Aziza, the daughter, to an orphanage because they don't have the money to everyone. Again, the woman is discriminated against by Rasheed because Aziza is just a girl and she is a useless nothing to him. A constant theme throughout the novel demonstrated by these examples is discrimination against women and the offensive power that men have over women that still exists in the world we live in today.
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