Gender Inequality In A Thousand Splendid Suns

1941 Words8 Pages
What would happen in the future if a country were to be ruled by a patriarchal system that consisted of a predominantly male society? What would happen when men begin speaking on behalf of women, entirely diminishing their rights? In A Thousand Splendid Suns, author Khaled Hosseini tackles this issue unambiguously, relating the horrendous consequences of the lack of women’s right into the lives of Mariam and Laila, the two main characters of the story. In the novel, it is portrayed by the author that the main effects of gender inequality are forced and child marriage, poor accessibility of education and lack of freedom for women. The reinforcement of gender inequality should be discouraged by government in order for Afghanistan to…show more content…
It empowers them with two essential thing which is useful in their life: knowledge and self- confidence. Thus, women must receive education to help them develop their knowledge and capacity to free themselves from forced marriage. Take for example, a recent case study in Bangladesh in which it highlights the fact that girls are likely to continue their education when marriage is delayed, and most importantly improve their literacy skills. Indeed, the education system applied to Laila as well. In the novel, it depicts clearly that Laila is inspired by her father, and she knows what comes first. She knows education is extremely important especially for girls in Afghanistan. Babi’s inspiration has encouraged Laila to continue pursuing her education until she encountered the dreadful circumstances as mentioned in the first paragraph. Assuming that this incident did not happen, I believe that Laila would definitely not marry at a young age because she is aware of the consequences of child marriage which were taught to her by her father and teachers in school. Without proper education, women would not be able unaware of their rights and unable to gain confidence to free themselves from fear and violence. The author has described Mariam’s fear towards Rasheed in the quote “now [she] dreaded the sound of him coming home in the evening” (p.98). From here, we can see that Mariam has been subservient and unable to overcome her abusive husband as a result of her lack of knowledge and her rights. Unlike Mariam, Laila who has fought for her own rights to free herself from Rasheed’s restrictions and had the confidence to break the Taliban rules, leaving the house alone to visit her daughter in the orphanage frequently. This novel had contrast the characteristics between Laila and Mariam that education could prevent women from exposure to violence. Besides
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