Patriarchal Society Flashcards
Nijo enjoyed being the Emperor’s …
Nijo: ‘What I enjoyed the most was being the Emperor’s favourite and wearing silk.’ pg. 14
Nijo and Father
Nijo: ‘I still did what my father wanted.’ pg. 13
Lack of education offered to women - Joan
Joan: ‘Also women weren’t allowed in the library.’ p.19
Extraordinary lives within a patriarchal society
Marlene: ‘We’ve all come a long way. to our courage and the way we changed our lives and our extraordinary achievements.’ p.24
Women are likened to … and … as they cannot be Pope
Joan: ‘Exactly and I shouldn’t have been a woman. Women, children and lunatics can’t be Pope.’
Preference of boys over girls
Nijo: ‘Ah a boy. So it all ended happily.’ p.35 Nijo: ‘they beat their women across the loins so the’ll have sons and not daughters’ (similar to superstitions in VT ) - preference of boys over girls.
To obey the Marquis and one’s husband is one and the same.
Griselda: ‘But of course a wife must obey her husband. And of course I must obey the Marquis.’ p.33
Patriarchal society looks for attractive women (Marlene) and the jobs women are channelized into are female orientated companies.
Marlene: ‘I think they are looking for something glossier.’ p.43
Marlene only recommends jobs that are related to domestic related to Jeanine: ‘Knitwear’, ‘Lampshades’ p.44
Similar to when Win says: ‘There are also fields that are easier for a woman, there is a cosmetic company here where your experience might be relevant.’ p.64
The ‘norm’ is to be abused by men
Nijo: ‘the Emperor beat us all very hard as usual… that’s norma.’ p.38
Limited options for women. Joyce.
Inability for women to work and get married. Marlene.
Joyce: ‘If your face fits at school it’s going to fit other places too… She’s not going to get a job when jobs are hard to get. I’d be sorry for anyone in charge of her. She’s better get married… She’s one of those girls might never leave home.’ p.54
Marlene: ‘So you won’t tell them your getting married?’ Jeanine: ‘Had I better not?’ Marlene: ‘It would probably help.’ p.43
Sex over competence.
Nell: ‘Howard thinks because he’s a fella the job was his as of right.’ p.57
Mrs Kidd: ‘What’s it going to do to him working for a woman? I think if it was a man he’d get over it as something normal.’ p.69
Mrs Kidd: ‘You’re unnatural.’
Glass ceiling for women
Nell: ‘There’s not a lot of room upward.’ p.57
Paradox - men need women to be successful
Win: ‘Provided his secretary can punctuate he should go far.’ p.58 - The assistance of his secretary is dependant on Holden’s success. Questions whether or not he is competent?
Hinderance of age in the workplace.
Too old: Louise
Louis: ‘I’m in my early forties.’
Win: ‘Exactly?’
Louis: ‘Forty-six.’ p.61
Age is obviously an insecurity for women in the workplace, hence Louis’ lie.
Shona: Says she is 29, when she is actually 21.
Louise’s struggle in
Louis: ‘I’ve spent twenty years in middle management. I’ve seen young men who I trained go on, in my own company or elsewhere, to higher things. Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes it for granted that my work is perfect.’ p.63
‘I have to justify my existence every minutes, and I have done so, I have proved -well.’ p. 63
