Submission

6 Pages 1545 Words

Several authors we have read focus on the relationship between gender and economics. In both “Roselily” written by Alice Walker and “Another Evening at the Club” written by Alifa Rifaat, we can see how economics/class shapes the gender relationships between women and their husbands, and how it uncovers ulterior motives for marriage. Although these stories are set in different times and different places, they carry a common theme. Both of these stories portray women who succumb to men for financial security.
In “Another Evening at the Club”, an arranged marriage provides financial security to a young girl and her family. The story begins with the meeting of a man and the protagonist’s father to discuss the dowry for his daughter: “It was only a few years ago that she had first laid eyes on him at her father’s house, meeting his gaze that weighed up her beauty and priced it before offering the dowry” (382). Rifaat tells the story of a girl married to a man 2-3 times her age for the economic benefit of her family on the premise that she would live without financial worries. ““You’re a lucky girl,” her mother told her. “He’s a real find. Any girl would be happy to have him. He’s an Inspector of Irrigation though he’s not yet 40…” (383). Her mother knew that a man who earned a big salary and had fully furnished government housing would save the family the expenses they would have had to cover, had housing not already been provided. Being married to a man with economic status would create a comfortable status for her, as well as financial security for the family.
Her family’s support of the arrangement seemed to not focus on her love for her future husband, but more so for the money they would receive in exchange for the marriage. “On her wedding night, as he put a diamond bracelet around her wrist, he reminded her that she was marrying someone with a brilliant career in front of...