Essay Sample on Poverty Impeding Women's Empowerment & Impacting Gender Roles

Introduction

Poverty continues to be a drawback in addressing gender inequality, including other factors that revolve around women empowerment. Most feminist scholars have specifically majored in how women's economic status is a stumbling block in ensuring that the position that women hold in society as determined by men is reverted. Also, the roles that women continue to play in society significantly Impacts the roles shared between couples. As such specific tasks that women perform continue to be passed down into new generations and it's the reason men continue to subject women into certain conditions that are informed by their individual experiences as they were growing up. The House on a Mango Street by Cisneros uses Esperanza as a primary tool in helping the reader visualize how poverty and gender roles have impacted women in Mango Street. Esperanza tries to distance herself from the women's roles in Mango Street, as well as the poverty which envelopes her. This essay will look at the impact of poverty and the gender roles on the women in the House on a mango street.

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The societal beliefs in the House on A Mango Street have denied women such as Esperanza and Sally the opportunity to become independent and entirely depend on themselves. This is apparent in the vignette "My Name" Despite deciding to use her great grandmother's name, Esperanza was not willing to confine in the same gender roles that restricted her great grandmother. This particular story provides the first impact of women's roles in Chicana, which is the subordination of women. Before getting married to Esperanza's great grandfather, her great grandmother was independent, but getting married to him meant that she was to confine with roles and the established values of women in the Chicana as defined by patriarchal principles. Cisneros states that "the grandmother became submissive by looking out the window her whole life"(32). The violation of the individual rights of women in Mango Street was strengthened by the established gender roles and the economic status of the women. According to Sugiyama, Eperanza's neighbourhood was populated by women leaning out of windows, women who can't come outside" (13). A woman was expected to perform household chores and not to engage in anything with economic benefit.

The impact of poverty and gender roles is also portrayed through Rafaela. When Esperanza was playing with her friends next to Rafaela's home, she asks the children to buy her coconut because "she gets locked indoors." This was the same situation to Esperanza's great grandmother, and this implies that the women's subordination to their husbands as a result of the gender roles that are defined by men and became social barriers to women's freedom in Mango Street. Sugiyama states that "a discussion of female power might seem out of place in a text which focuses primarily on the rigid control of women by men" (11). The men in Mango Street were the perpetrators of the gender roles because they were the heads of the family, thus controlling the actions of women. According to Cisneros, her husband locks her away due to the fear that "Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at" (79). As such, although the women had an opportunity to protest against their oppression, they would do that because they were subordinate to men. Rafaela longs for freedom, which is evident in her desire to drink sweeter drinks and be like the older women who used to visit the dancehall down the street and open homes with keys. Also, the impact of poverty on the women in the mango street is apparent in the inability of Rafaela to purchase sweeter drinks as opposed to the coconut and papaya juice because she entirely depends on her husband, which further contributes to her submission.

The women in the House on a mango street help themselves and their families out of absolute poverty through their husbands. As such, they sacrifice themselves to be men's tools, and this makes them adhere to gender roles as stipulated by their male counterparts. Sugiyama states that a woman's place might be home, but it's a patriarch domain" (17). Rafaela acknowledges that there are men promising freedom, always someone offering sweeter drinks, someone promising to keep them on a silver string" (Cisneros 80). Poverty can be cited as a major tool that makes women be victims of gender roles and the treatment by men. Therefore, their husbands redeem them from absolute poverty, including their families. The men seek the most fundamental part of their freedom- the freedom to control their women's action and freedom. Therefore, although the men might get women out of poverty, they control their actions, which an essential part of their freedom. The silver string, as mentioned by the author, is a representation of a false promise, which makes women continue suffering in the hands of the men.

Sally escapes her abusive father by getting married before eighth grade, which again reinforces the accepted gender roles because the husband accommodates and provides for her. By providing shelter and other material needs, sally husbands remain the head of the family. The husband controls her actions, such as not allowing her to talk on the phone and preventing her friends from visiting her unless she is out working. The poverty plays as significant in reinforcing the gender roles, and sally admits that she feels happier because of the material possessions that she could not own herself. Cisneros states that sally felt delighted looking at the towel, the toaster, the alarm clock and the drapes in her house"(102). The ordinary objects are a sign of stability that she lacked while in her father's place and because of the material possessions, she willingly accepts her actions to be controlled by her husband.

Women in the Mango Street strongly believe that it is only through men that they can achieve economic stability. Therefore, same to sally, Marin believes that her star will fall through getting married and try to instill this belief in Esperanza, who stays close to her. In the House on the Mango Street by Cisneros, Marlin tells Esperanza that "what matters ...is for boys to see us and for us to see them" (27). Esperanza notices that she is trying to teach her how to be submissive and laments that marlin is waiting Marin "Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life" (27). Marin depends entirely on her husband and becomes a prisoner in her home. They yearn to own their own homes, but they can only do it through a husband. Sugiyama states that "the only means of acquiring a house...is available to them through men" (17). Esperanza, unlike sally and Marin, believes in other means to attain freedom and not through marriage. Esperanza believes that marriage will only prevent the freedom that she is yearning for and she is dedicated to change her own life and not through some other person. Although she believes in love, Esperanza decides to define herself through her principles and not the men in the mango street.

The impact of the gender roles and poverty on the women in the House on the Mango Street in brought out in the vignette "There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do" where Esparanza explores the challenges of being a single mother. Rosa Vargas is a single mother whose life is centered on a series of endless chores. Cisneros states that "she is only one mother who is tired all the time from buttoning and bottling and babying"(29). Rose remains dedicated to the patterns set by the Chicana's patriarchal principles of having to take care of her kids and nobody views work as unique. As evident in Esperanza's words that Rosa has many kids and it is not her fault. It merely suggests that taking care of the kids was a woman's responsibility. Women in the mango street are restrained by the gender roles of being wives and mothers and not as individuals in their capacities.

The impact of gender roles and poverty is also portrayed through Alicia, who, despite going to college, she still abides by the gender roles. In the House on a Mango Street, her father tells her that "a woman's place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star" (31). She is expected to sacrifice for the sake of the family, and this compels her to be waking up early at the expense of her school and study. Although she yearns to overcome the social barriers, she cannot do that because her mother died and thus has to take the roles of the mother becoming the mother in her home. Alicia tries to break from the gender roles that are established by her society and she states that "she doesn't want to spend her whole life in a factory" (Cisneros 32). Generally, Alicia and other women Mango Street try to break away from gender roles and poverty. However, most of them place their fate in the hands of men and always dream of finding men that would marry them to help them attain economic stability.

The House in the mango street that Esperanza lives in also signifies the impact of poverty in her neighbourhood. The house that Esperanza lives in portrays the contribution of poverty in the roles and position of women in the mango street. Earlier in the House on a Mango Street, Cisneros states that "bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in" (4). Moving to Mango Street achieves her American dream to be a nightmare. The experience frames the narrative of Esperanza's struggle to find a new position in society. This is further strengthened by Martin, who states that "she will remain trapped in a version of the house of memory that is reflective of lower-income urban existence, a nailed, barred, prison-like space whose description invokes images of entrapment, danger, and potential violence" (57). She cannot change her economic status and that of her family while staying in Mango Street.

Conclusion

In conclusion, poverty and gender roles have significantly impacted on the position that women occupy in the mango street. Esperanza is used by the author to help the reader visualize how the different women in the story, such as Alicia, sally, among others, continue to be subjected to patriarchal treatment simply because they cannot depend on themselves. Sally escapes from her abusive father and gets married before she is of age because she believes that the husband will change her condition. Although she continues to suffer in the hands of another man, she feels better off because of material possession. Most of the women focus on ways to entice men to get out of poverty. Alicia goes to school to be able to depend on her but still her specific roles, such as taking care of her family, which denies her the opportunity to concentrate on her studies and other things that could improve her lifestyle. The impact of poverty on the roles women in Mango Street is also portrayed in poor condition, which denies her the opportunity to fulfill her American dream. The women in Mango Street have their actions dictated by men and become prisoners in their houses. The society does not see anything wrong with the way women are treated and all the efforts to redeem themselves from the social barriers are derailed by poverty and the established gender roles.

Works Cited

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Print.

Martin, Karen W. "The House (of Memory) on Mango Street: Sandra Cisneros's Counter-Poetics of Space." South Atlantic Review, vol. 73, no. 1, 2008, pp. 50-67.

Sugiyama, Michelle Scalise. "Of woman bondage: The eroticism of feet in The House on Mango Street." Sandra Cisneros's the House on Mango Street 41.1 (2009): 97.