Comparative Analysis of Women's Social Cultural Empowerment

Introduction

This work involves comparative analysis of two roles of women in the society; women socio-cultural empowerment and gender role expectations. This compaison is artfully portrayed by two feminists "Joanne Russ" and "Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie" in their short stories "When It Changed" and "Birdsong" respectively. This essay reasonably connects the two stories by the two feminists, who have lived different experiences, at different times and in different regions, to generally characterize the role that women can play in a society.

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Women empowerment involves women's ability to control their lives, assets, their surroundings and their decisions-however risky, for the purpose of their peaceful survival. In the story "when it changed", Joanne Russ brings out the character Katy, who is able to operate machines perfectly well "like a maniac". Katy has one kid and in a company of the narrator Janet whom they are riding along with. The narrator also has two kids. Katy is a fierce woman who has engaged in fighting three arranged combats that involve use of weapons and following military codes. She has four people around her; Spet, Lydia, Amalia and the writer. Real Earth men are their threat-bigger than the ladies, and boulder, simply "heavy as draft horses."

When it Changed is established is an area named Whileaway, where a plague had killed all the men, leaving the world with no man. Just when women were almost getting comfortable with the control, a ship full on big men arrives, and they begin to question Kate.

Seeing no men around, one of the gigantic men informally asks Katy "where are all your people". It is obvious he does not mean the rest of the people but means men who the thinks should always come along with the ladies. Openly, the man expects to be addressed by men and not women suck as Katy. It's an dejecting why he cannot address the ladies in the best way when men are not around, thus portraying how women are degraded in this story.

In "Birdsong," Chiamanda portrays the spirit of city life and the hustles that come with living in it. She incorporates themes like flashbacks, conflict, and mood variation to drive a composite tale about a love affair, its positive and negative effects on the narrator, as well as how pitiful the narrator's opinion of the modern Lagos, Nigeria, is; technology has grown, and people no longer care about one another.

In the story Birdsong, the writer is in a relationship with a married man. She narrates how she imagined the lover's wife to be "one whom things were done". The writer is educated, having gone to Enugu Campus and works at Celtel Telekom in Lagos, where they met up with the lover. She concludes that her lover's power is brought out by the driver Emmanuel, in the case where he forced her out of the car at the gate instead of dropping her at the entrance of the supermarket on Kofi Abawoyi Street. She explains that she feels treated like the other common girlfriends of the lover, which saddens her.

She explains how sad she feels being taken to the same dinner restaurant all the time "I had eaten everything on the menu a hundred times." She feels bad whenever her texts are always deleted so that the lover's wife cannot see them. She wished they would stay there even for some few hours. She had a ream of unasked questions to the lover and experiences that she always wanted to talk to the lover about but could not.

The narrator and the other colleague Chikwado are the only females in community relation unit. When was after the narrator gets compared to her lover's previous women at his home "Feisty, they were feisty like you," She gets mad and calls the married man a bastard, The mad then throws her of his home. The narrator wondered why the lover would not know the things that she disliked while she longed to hear other things.

In the story "when it changed' the writer plays the role of men, where it is not expected of them to attend the duels where they may end up with scars. The lady responds to the gigantic men, "We had a big gene pool we had been chosen for extreme intelligence." The ladies also participate in operating parthenogenesis process and outlining the government which is only expected of men. The men even commended the ladies had adapted seamlessly "where I come from, the women don't dress so plainly." Women took the role of men when their men died thirty years ago. The ladies would still easily take control of every situation needless of the men.

In the story "Birdsong", women take the role of driving heavy machines where in the case the writer ends up getting an insult from other male drivers "Stupid girl, you are a common nuisance. Why did you stop like that?" The woman then stares at the narrator driving a jeep.

Joanne Russ, in the story "when it changed," conveys how changes have not been made but they are beginning to "Give us seventy year and we will have more than one real city, more than a few industrial centers, full time professions" .It will not be expected that people to dwell in the farm any longer but will have other mechanic and industrial areas to dwell in. Katy explained how district calculus handled problems too big for the individual town.

All that was needed was more time to even control population and not as a political issue as it was previously controlled and also to handle the delicate point in the history. In the future there will be the culture with big guns and the other with none and it's so predictable of the outcome where with none they will suffer the most. Janet explains on the pathogenesis process to the men. Process no longer used in the current life because of its defects.

"Birdsong" by Chimamanda is in the present. It is a world that lives in the present, and people are up and coping with advances in fashion, development and technology. There is development is seen with the traffic due to many vehicles. Not everyone is dwelling in the farms; this is seen in the case where the writer works in a company, Celnet Telekom in Lagos with other colleagues and being administered by the Boss. There are also hawkers selling goods by the roadsides. Present world is portrayed by the way of dressing "Brazilian hair, forefinger bejeweled" unlike past life which involved just plain dressing.

Buildings have been constructed, such as the restaurant where the narrator is usually taken for dinner, Supermarkets on the street where narrator is taken to buy meat pie and also beautiful homes like where the narrator's lover resided when in Lagos. The world has been made a small village; the narrator's lover can easily visit America and be able to travel back to Lagos.

Each author in their short stories is able to manage the theme of gender and empowerment differently based on the different literary genre in each story. Like in the following cases; in the story "when it changed" Janet, the narrator has a recognized role where she is known for familiarity with the parthenogenic culture. She is addressed concerning the process which is said to have defects as so in the "Birdsong" story where the narrator and her colleague Chikwado are the only ones working in the community relation office. In the story "when it changed," women are entirely independent.

They do not rely on any man to control them, protect them, guide them or even speak on their behalf. This is seen when Janet, Spet, Lydia, Amelia and Katy are approached by the gigantic earth men. They addressed them on their own with no need of men around them. Their independence is greatly portrayed where they rely on parthenogenesis and when the men lament, "and as a good arrangement as any for randomizing heredity, if your reproduction is male to follow the same pattern...men must come back to Whileaway ".

They are in a world of needing no man while in the short story "Birdsong", women entirely believe in being together with men for support, marriage and for their happiness. Chikwado half joked with Emeka "Na wa!, look at how your eyes are shining because of a married man, you need deliverance prayers". Women went extra miles in the name of getting a man where we find Chikwado, a thirty two-year old going to a night vigil service at different church congregations with a chief ambition of meeting her God-sent partner.

The following morning she arrives at job her eyes flecked with red but still with the thought of continuing with the search. Female coworkers as well gossiped about settling down with a man. The wife of the narrator's lover has her role in taking care of her family back in America when the husband is away. And when the Lover is in Lagos, Emeka takes the responsibility of taking care of him.

In the story "when it changed" the narrator, Janet cannot stop thinking of Yuriko, her eldest daughter who is sleeping at the back seat; "Dragging some abominably dead beastie beside her, I will never forgive for what it will have done to my daughter" while the Narrator in the story "Birdsong" does not think of ever settling thus it's evident it's only her lover who is thinking about it "Things were left unsaid.'

In the story "when it changed" religion is not attributed as in "Birdsong" where the narrator does not accompany other colleagues praying at the work place. She furiously asks one day "why should we be praying in a workplace and assuming everyone is a Christian?" and gender is greatly shown where the lover is addressed as sir in the restaurant and on the other side the narrator is even not greeted. It infuriated the narrator mostly where she appeared invisible "Why do you all waiters and gatemen and drivers in this Lagos refuse to greet me? Do you not see me?"

Conclusion

With all the two comparative analysis, women are seen to take part in many roles such as taking care of their family, taking roles in governing, offering protection where it's needed and mostly bettering their lives with how they relate with the men in the society. As much as they take part in these roles in the society, they are threatened by the male in the society hence demeaning them and only the strong are able to stand against this. Lucky are the women who are able to partake in the roles said to be for men. Examples of such roles include governing an institution and becoming the boss.

Works Cited

Adichie N, Chimamanda. Birdsong. New York The New Yorker, 2010.Web. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/09/20/birdsong-2Russ Joanne. When It Changed. 1972. Web