Woman and Economics - Essay Example

Ramakrishna Surampudi 10 May Woman and Economics The story of Marguerite Johnson as depicted by Maya Angelou’s book ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ is not just an interesting piece of autobiography spiced up with literary appeal. Nor is it just an account of the typical black girl’s plight. It has more to it. It relates the pain and pride involved in the universal woman’s relentless quest, carried on doggedly with grit, faith and intellectual curiosity, for the identity that she thinks is due to her, the long struggle necessitated in that process and of the hurdles encountered on the road to survival, self-expression, self-affirmation, self-empowerment and ultimately economic freedom. In the book ‘Through Women’s Eyes’, the portrait of women given by Dubois and Dumenil portray encompasses different classes, religions, regions and ethnic backgrounds and education levels. Marguerite is a representative of them. Marguerite’s story progresses through contradicting influences of the values of the traditional society and those of the modern society. It is only after a long period of silence that the caged bird dares voice her song and asserts herself. She gains her access to the pool of knowledge in the face of stiff resistance from the ever-daunting forces of oppression. She has had to recognize her spirit first before she could feel her spirituality. It has never been easy for her to discern the benevolent and the rapacious. Adversity was not the main thing that had to be fought; it was a fight against rape, not only of the body, but also of the mind, soul, sensitivity, past, present and future. There was as much exasperation as there was expectation. At the very outset of the story, young Margaret asks: “What you lookin at me for?” The desperation underlying the words may be perceived on a wider panorama, of the insignificant self-doubting woman posing a question to the predators in the chauvinistic jungle. Then she claims: “I didn’t come to stay”. It is a comic situation with a tragic shade. She was not lying. At the time when the words were uttered, it was true. With the passage of time, the outlook changed and the question arose: why shouldn’t she stay. It was then that she decided she was going to stay. And she did at last. Staying connotes more than one thing. It stands for life, rising above discrimination, oppression, slavery, humiliation and segregation. For the children attending schools today, it will be hard to believe that there was a time when woman was a helpless, insignificant creature, an unpaid laborer, without share in power, without vote until the first quarter of the 20th century, in a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Finally when the caterpillar transformed into a butterfly, it was not by a ‘lift’, but by the concerted effort of millions of women, who were willing to and had the courage to swim upstream through the New World, through the Revolution, through the Civil War and through the Progressive Era. The graphical rendering of seduction and rape of Marguerite appears to be ambivalent if not ambiguous. But the objective is not just to project innocence and elicit sympathy, not to scandalize ogres, nor to play a blame game. It is to expose the subtleness of the horror, the vulnerability of woman that is a result of ignorance, the price of being intellectually unaware. Marguerite was told, all women were told: “Keep your legs closed, and don’t let nobody see your pocketbook.” But such advice did not help. It would not. At best it can be a warning. It can never be a shield against exploitation and manipulation of a woman’s longing for affection by ill-meaning wolves. Advice does not have that potential. Wisdom has. In its absence, Marguerite thrust upon herself a long spell of silence. So did the women in the American society for hundreds of years. They were silent because they were dealing with none other than their family members, who were not to be questioned. They were silenced by Freeman-kind of men who were apparently tender, gentle and harmless. The episode is a lesson why women need to be better armed. Armed with education, that is. Marguerite is fortunate to be born into a well-to-do family. It is shown as a family that was more than comfortable even during the Great Depression. She has faced numerous problems but economic poverty was not one among them. Another important factor that favoured her prospects was that she and Bailey have got all kinds of books to read. They moved between Los Angeles, California and San Francisco. In the new school, they were taken aback by their fellow students’ ignorance. Those were privileges worthy of envy even by white children. The book presents the journey of woman through America’s many faces: Stamps, Arkansas, St. Louis, San Francisco, the turbulent times of the Great Depression, the Jim Crow customs and African-American traditions. Mrs. Cullinan’s dishes breaking by accident is a signal to the impending revolt by the deprived on the privileged. It is indicative of changing trends. The book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings gives us an overview of American history, of women’s place and the steady transformation in women’s condition that is brought about by diligence and merit. Dubois and Dumenil establish in their book ‘Through Women’s Eyes’ how, in the past, women were looked down upon socially, politically and economically. With the passage of time numerous changes occurred in the society. The most important movement that gave impetus to the empowerment of women was the Suffrage Movement. The Suffragists campaigned for the women’s right to vote with women like Pankhurst and Osler at the lead. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed in UK granting vote to women over the age of 30 who owned a house. In the United States the leaders Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to their campaign for the right to vote. The universalization of education is yet another milestone in Feminist history. Education gave women an unthought-of spur in the material world. The success of women in almost all the fields and their financial independence compelled them to think about the subject of economics. Feminist Economics is a term that is frequently used in the present. It is a developing branch of feminism that analyses the traditional systems of economics which often fail to take into consideration the value of unpaid labor done in a domestic setting. Feminist Economists argue that economic success cannot be measured entirely in terms of goods; it must also take into account mental and physical well-being. Feminist Economics doesn’t does not categorize women as a single entity. It considers the differences based on race, nation, religion etc. Black Feminism is yet another stream. The case of black women in white society is a perilous one. A black woman is doubly displaced in a society dominated by whites. She is discriminated against by the white society for being a black. Next, she faces prejudice within her own race for being a woman. The novel ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou tells the story of such doubly displaced set of women. The book of Dubois and Dumenil deals exhaustively and sensibly with the developments pertaining to women that took place over the last few centuries. It is US history as much as it is women’s history. The book does not overlook the role even of the Native American women and the Pueblo peoples. It gives due credit to the African women and their diversity. The ambiguous legacy of white women is covered without prejudice. Most books that claim to present women’s history somehow converge to the stereo type that tries to establish ‘that women also were there in it’. In this with evidence and testimony, we get to observe what women happened to do. It treads an unconventional path with respect to the framework it employs with respect to the presentation of major historical themes. Instead of emphasizing the rise and fall of the system of separate gender spheres, it highlights three major themes that shaped the diversity of women’s lives in American history: work, politics, and family and personal life. The analysis reveals that the woman characters in the novel are a little fortunate. They are only doubly displaced. They escape a third displacement as their economic status is secure. Most of them are financially stable and this stability gives them the edge to take tougher decisions. A few characters like Dolores and Glory can’t afford to be rebels. Marguerite can walk out of Mrs. Viola’s kitchen as she doesn’t have to think about making both the ends meet. The male characters in the novel, with the exception of Mr. Freeman and Mr. Bailey Johnson, fail to make an impression in the readers’ minds. Mr. Freeman and Mr. Bailey Johnson linger in the minds of the reader not for their good deeds but for their unpardonable sins like child abuse. Mr. Bailey Johnson is an indulgent, irresponsible kind of man who yearns for every possible pleasure in life. All other characters like Mr. Steward, Mr. McElroy etc. just pass through the author’s canvas without meriting any attention. References Angelou, Maya. I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS. California. Bantam Publishers. 1993. Dumenil, Lynn. Ellen Carol DuBois. THROUGH WOMEN’S EYES: AN AMERICAN HISTORY WITH DOCUMENTS New York. Random House, 1969. Read More