xi
ABSTRACT
Daniel Niko. The Role of Education on Palestinian Women in Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’s Three Mothers, Three Daughters. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015. Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’sThree Mothers, Three Daughters tells about two different eras, that is, the older and younger generation. The older generation, represented by the three mothers, is a representation of patriarchal domination that limits their opportunity to get an education. On the other hand, the younger generation, that means the three daughters show us another side of Palestinian women who are independent and can contribute to the palestinian society.
In this novel, especially in the younger generation, women are able to get more freedom in their life than their mother’s generation. Women have opportunities to get education and get their degree also, they work and make difference in the society through Women’ Committee for Social Work andPolitical Movement, and make important decision to live independently as modern educated women.Those role of education prove that the daughter’s life are better than their mother’s.
There are two problems that have to be answered in order to see the role of education in changing Palestinian women’ life. The problems are (1) How did patriarchy limit the mothers’ opportunity to get education as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters? (2) How did education change the daughters’ life as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters?
The method of the study that is used is library research. The primary source of the study is the novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters while the secondary sources are the books that are related to the study and also the internet sources. Feminist approach is used in the study discusses women who are under patriarchy and it limits their opportunity to get education and women’ life who get education and change their life and society.
xii
ABSTRAK
Daniel Niko. The Role of Education on Palestinian Women in Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’s Three Mothers, Three Daughters. Yogyakarta, Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakutas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.
Novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters karya Michael Gorkin dan Rafiqa Othman menceritakan tentang dua jaman yang berbeda yaitu generasi tua dan generasi muda. Generasi tua, diwakili oleh para ibu, merupakan representasi dari dominasi patriarkal yang membatasi kesempatan mereka mengenyam pendidikan. Sementara itu, pada generasi muda, diwakili oleh para anak perempuan, memperlihatkan sisi lain dari wanita palestina yang mandiri dan mampu berkontribusi untuk masyarakat Palestina. Fenomena dari masyarakat patriarkal Palestina yang konservatif bisa dilihat dalam novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters karya Michael Gorkin dan Rafiqa Othman.
Di novel ini, khususnya pada generasi anak, perempuan telah mendapatkan kebebasan yang lebih daripada generasi ibu mereka. Perempuan berpeluang untuk mendapatkan pendidikan dan gelar, mereka bekerja dan membuat perbedaan di masyarakat melewati komunitas pekerja sosial wanita dan pergerakan politik, dan dan membuat keputusan penting untuk hidup mandiri sebagai perempuan modern yang berpendidikan. Ada dua pertanyaan yang perlu dijawab untuk melihat peran pendidikan dalam mengubah kehidupan perempuan Palestina. Pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut ialah (1) Bagaimana patriarki membatasi peluang sang ibu untuk mendapatkan pendidikan seperti digambarkan di Three Mothers, Three Daughters? (2) Bagaimana pendidikan mengubah kehidupan para anak seperti digambarkan di Three Mothers, Three Daughters??
Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah riset perspustakaan. Bahan utamanya adalah novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters sedangkan bahan kedua adalah buku-buku yang berhubungan dengan penelitian dan juga internet. Pendekatan feminis diterapkan di penelitian ini karena studi ini mempelajari perempuan di masa patriarki dan hal itu membatasi peluang mereka untuk mengenyam pendidikan dan mengubah hidup mereka.
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN MICHAEL GORKIN AND RAFIQA OTHMAN’STHREE MOTHERS, THREE
DAUGHTERS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By DANIEL NIKO
Student Number: 094214015
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN MICHAEL GORKIN AND RAFIQA OTHMAN’STHREE MOTHERS, THREE
DAUGHTERS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By DANIEL NIKO
Student Number: 094214015
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vii
STOP
BE YOURSELF
AND
START
BE YOUR BEST SELF
viii
For God
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ, who always with me and supporting me, accompanying me finishing not only this thesis, but also my study. He is always by my side, giving me strength, bless and gift in my life.
I have to thank my advisor, A. B. Sri Mulyani, M. A., Ph. D, for her time in guiding me and her advice in not only finishing this thesis, but also motivating me as well. This thesis will not be researchable if not because of her. I also have to thank my co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S. S., M. Hum., for her help in checking and revising this thesis.
Thank you for my beloved family. Thanks to my father, Hindarto Chandra for being a guardian and always being an example for me. I have to thank my mother, Debora Titik Kumeirini, for her love and her care. Also, to my beloved sister and brother, Eunice Angelina Sonia and Misael Christian, for not always, but mostly, making me feels at home.
I also would like to thank my girlfriend and partner, Maria Kristiana Sari for her supports, prayers, motivation, and help so I can finish this thesis. Thank you for all the love and patience that you have been given to me all this time. I will never forget all your sacrifice for me.
Special thanks and good luck for Yoshua Setyo Nugroho Wibowo. Thank you for being my best friend in Yogyakarta, especially during my hard time.
Thank you, William Albert and Johan Setyawan Atmaja for the togetherness since our middle school days.
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... ii
APPROVAL PAGE ... iii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE... iv
LEMBAR PERTANYAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ....v
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ... vi
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...8
A. Review of Related Studies ...8
A. Patriarchal domination in the Mother’s life...26
B. Feminism and Education reflected by the Daughters ...33
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...46
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...50
xi
ABSTRACT
Daniel Niko. The Role of Education on Palestinian Women in Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’s Three Mothers, Three Daughters. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2015. Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’sThree Mothers, Three Daughters tells about two different eras, that is, the older and younger generation. The older generation, represented by the three mothers, is a representation of patriarchal domination that limits their opportunity to get an education. On the other hand, the younger generation, that means the three daughters show us another side of Palestinian women who are independent and can contribute to the palestinian society.
In this novel, especially in the younger generation, women are able to get more freedom in their life than their mother’s generation. Women have opportunities to get education and get their degree also, they work and make difference in the society through Women’ Committee for Social Work andPolitical Movement, and make important decision to live independently as modern educated women.Those role of education prove that the daughter’s life are better than their mother’s.
There are two problems that have to be answered in order to see the role of education in changing Palestinian women’ life. The problems are (1) How did patriarchy limit the mothers’ opportunity to get education as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters? (2) How did education change the daughters’ life as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters?
The method of the study that is used is library research. The primary source of the study is the novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters while the secondary sources are the books that are related to the study and also the internet sources. Feminist approach is used in the study discusses women who are under patriarchy and it limits their opportunity to get education and women’ life who get education and change their life and society.
xii
ABSTRAK
Daniel Niko. The Role of Education on Palestinian Women in Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’s Three Mothers, Three Daughters. Yogyakarta, Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakutas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.
Novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters karya Michael Gorkin dan Rafiqa Othman menceritakan tentang dua jaman yang berbeda yaitu generasi tua dan generasi muda. Generasi tua, diwakili oleh para ibu, merupakan representasi dari dominasi patriarkal yang membatasi kesempatan mereka mengenyam pendidikan. Sementara itu, pada generasi muda, diwakili oleh para anak perempuan, memperlihatkan sisi lain dari wanita palestina yang mandiri dan mampu berkontribusi untuk masyarakat Palestina. Fenomena dari masyarakat patriarkal Palestina yang konservatif bisa dilihat dalam novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters karya Michael Gorkin dan Rafiqa Othman.
Di novel ini, khususnya pada generasi anak, perempuan telah mendapatkan kebebasan yang lebih daripada generasi ibu mereka. Perempuan berpeluang untuk mendapatkan pendidikan dan gelar, mereka bekerja dan membuat perbedaan di masyarakat melewati komunitas pekerja sosial wanita dan pergerakan politik, dan dan membuat keputusan penting untuk hidup mandiri sebagai perempuan modern yang berpendidikan. Ada dua pertanyaan yang perlu dijawab untuk melihat peran pendidikan dalam mengubah kehidupan perempuan Palestina. Pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut ialah (1) Bagaimana patriarki membatasi peluang sang ibu untuk mendapatkan pendidikan seperti digambarkan di Three Mothers, Three Daughters? (2) Bagaimana pendidikan mengubah kehidupan para anak seperti digambarkan di Three Mothers, Three Daughters??
Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah riset perspustakaan. Bahan utamanya adalah novel Three Mothers, Three Daughters sedangkan bahan kedua adalah buku-buku yang berhubungan dengan penelitian dan juga internet. Pendekatan feminis diterapkan di penelitian ini karena studi ini mempelajari perempuan di masa patriarki dan hal itu membatasi peluang mereka untuk mengenyam pendidikan dan mengubah hidup mereka.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Every individual has the same inherent rights regardless of their race, age, gender, and social class to get education. Through education, a person can open his or her mind to understand about something that happened in someone’s life. Education offers a lot of beneficial things, such as being able to get a job with reasonable salary, giving a broad knowledge of the world arounda person’s life and to develop the powers of reasoning and judgement. Therefore, education becomes essential part in this modern life.
Nevertheless, education in the Three Mothers, Three Daughters novel is considered unimportant. In this novel, the Palestinian women, portrayed by the mother’s era, which was in 1948, were still expected to be housewives and mothers
in traditional ways. Moreover, the mothers were illiterate because they did not get the chance to study. These problems show that women did not have opportunity to get better life through education, despite the fact that education significantly increaseswomen’s opportunities in work and society.
debated by the women. In Three Mothers, Three Daughters, Palestinian women’s life is represented by Umm Mahmud and Marianne, Umm Abdullah and Samira, and Umm Khaled and Leila, has brought a view of the difficult personal and national events that they confronted. The rules of patriarchy have made up their life. These women received the amount of control that men exert on their lives. The fathers who controlled access to educational opportunities, selected marriage partners and also, husbands who made crucial decisions (such as how many children they would bear). According to Mies, patriarchy, literally means the rule of fathers. But today’s male dominance goes beyond the ‘rule of fathers’, it includes the rule of husbands,
of male bosses, or ruling men in most societal institutions, in politics and economics, in short what has been called ‘the men’s league’ or ‘men’s house’ (1986:37).
In the aspect of education, these six Palestinian women faced the most difficult time when they want to get the education to get life better. This problem is similar to what Basow (1992:208) stated that ‘women’s education has been seen historically as less valuable and important than men’s education’ at the mothers’ era before 1948, their fathers controlled and decided them to not go to school because of the fathers’ belief that their daughters will become a strong-willed women that would be capable of stating the truth against the men, outsmart them, and cannot be controlled, which resulted in the loss of the men’s influence and
to marry at the young-age (14 and or 16 years old). They also struggle to understand the reasons for their subordination to men.
Different from the mothers’ era, in the daughters’ era today, the vast majority of Palestinian girls receive some education, with most receiving seven years or more. The trend toward increased education is also true for Palestinian men, but the leap has been more dramatic for women. In this novel, two of the daughters went to college, and the third completed ninth grade. Furthermore, they have freedom to choose their marriage partner and also, they were not really experiencing the traditional structuring of Palestinian society but still, the care of children and household chores are still widely considered women’s responsibilities. Yet in recent decades and in increasing numbers women have gone to jobs outside the home. Two of daughters have worked outside the home: one as a teacher and the other as a social worker; and the third has worked as a paid child caretaker within her home. The two college-educated women have been able to enter the public workforce. Those facts show that education has important role to the women.
Regarding to the experiences mentioned, those mothers and daughters wanted to get rid out of the rules of patriarchy and the oppression within the family and Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The daughters in this story, who became an educated person and dared to reveal their identity to men, showed their ability to be free women in Israeli-Palestine conflict and within their family.
about oppressive, unequal man-woman relationship and who want to change it.” (Mies, 1986:6). They have revealed the important truth of their struggles and confessions through their fine stories related to their daily life in Israeli-Palestine conflict also, within the family. It is a fine example of how life stories introduce complex questions of identity and perspective into larger national histories.
roles in their life. Therefore, education is supposed to be given to women without gender gap between women and men, within the education itself. Education is about the right for women and for men that resulted in the development of a country and the best society life.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the introductions above, the problems of this study are formulated as follows:
1. How did patriarchy limit the mothers’opportunity to get education as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters?
2. How did education changethe daughters’life as depicted in Three Mothers, Three Daughters?
C. Objective of the Study
The first objective is tounderstand the three mothers’ story andanswering the first problem by describing how did patriarchy limit the three mothers’ opportunity to get education.Then, the writer analyses the three daughters’ stories and examining the details to explain how did education change the three daughters’ life for the better.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid different interpretation, the researcher limits the definition of the terms which are discussed in this thesis. Here are the definition of patriarchy (private and public patriarchy), and feminism.
1. Patriarchy
According to The Dictionary of Feminist Theory, patriarchy is a system of male authority which oppresses women through its social, political, economic institution. In any of historical forms that patriarchal society takes, whether it is feudal, capitalist, or socialist, a sex-gender system and a system of economic discrimination operate simultaneously. Patriarchy has power from men’s greater access to, and meditation of, the resources and rewards of authority structures inside and outside the home (Humm, 1990:159).
In Forms and Degrees of Patriarchy, Walby distinguished two main forms of patriarchy, which are private and public. Private patriarchy is based upon household production as the main site of women’s oppression. Public patriarchy is
2. Feminism
According to Owen M. Fiss (1994:44), feminism is the set of beliefs and ideas that belong to the broad social and political movement to achieve greater equality for women. As its governing ideology, feminism gives shape and direction to the women’s movement and, of course, is shaped by it. Women seek equality in
all spheres of life and use a broad array of strategies to achieve that goal.
8
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of three sections: review on related studies, review on related theories, and theoretical framework. The first part contains study which has already been conducted by others. The second part contains some theories used in analyzing the data. The last part contains the theoretical framework, discussing the contribution of the related studies and the theories in answering the problem of the study and how they are applied in order to answer the problem.
A. Review of Related Studies
In order to support the analysis, a related study which more or less has the same topic or theme with this study are used. This related study are taken from other undergraduate thesis and will be helpful for additional understanding of the researcher.
other side of some of Palestinian women who can get the chance to become an independent, determined, and outspoken women, through the education levels they experienced in.
On the article titled Women and Education in Palestine: Is Education Improving the Status of Women?, RASIT (Royal Academy of Science International
Trust) discussed about how women should be educated in the right way.
Internationally, women’s education is seen as a development necessity and as a human right. Similarly, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (2000) have included goals for improving education, gender equality and women’s
empowerment, while emphasizing that women and girl’s education is essential in building democratic societies and creating a platform for sustained economic growth. More importantly, education should serve as a means to improve women’s
status within their families and societies. These statements clearly emphasized that education must be given to especially women, because women also have rights to get education as equal as men so that, they can support their economic life within families and societies.
outrank them in academic achievement and Tawjihi scoring; and at the tertiary level females also outnumber males, and pursue and excel in a variety of academic fields. Thus, there should be no question that Palestine contains a motivated and educated pool of women who well-prepared contributing to society.
In relation to the researcher’s studies, which tried to develop the studies above, the daughters, who represented as new generation Palestinian women, has shown about the impact of education in their life. In the daughters’ era, which differ
fromthe mothers’ era, they showed about their thoughts and views, they had good jobs, and one of them participated in the political organizations. These facts are based on the education aspects that influence their life as Palestinian women. Historically, Palestinian women had looked for the equality of human rights as equal as the men in their life, especially in the aspect of education until nowadays. Palestinian women have understood that their presence must be equal with men. They are now educated, participated in the political organizations and had opportunity to enter the work field.
especially in rural or more conservative areas are unwilling to allow their daughters to live away from home or to be exposed to the potential dangers of daily commuting to and from university, such as being stranded at a closed checkpoint and unable to return home at night, a fairly frequent occurrence for thousands of Palestinians.
Other than going to school, i.e when they can, young Palestinian girls had few opportunities for development, recreation, and participation, very few safe spaces exist for young girls to congregate, and even these suffer from lack of necessary funding and are poorly equipped and managed. Meanwhile, some families have no choice but to pressure their daughters to marry at an early age because of poverty and living expenses.
Syria in 2006 (for females aged 7-24 years), and 59.3% in Lebanon in 2006 (for females aged 7-17 years).
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Characters and Characterization
According to Abrams, character is the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say - the dialogue - and what they do - the action (1981:2).
Therefore characters are important element in the story. The stories always introduce their characters to give a description to the readers. Character is commonly used in two ways (Stanton, 1965:17). The first is that character designates the individuals who appear in the story. The second is that character refers to the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that makes up each of these individuals. Character gives a certain situation or circumstance in the story because he or she shows his or her emotions in it. According to Holman and Harmon (1986:70), Character is a complicated term that includes tile idea of the moral constitution of the human personality, the presence of moral uprightness, and the simpler notion of the presence of creatures in art that seem to be human beings of one sort or another.
dramatic and the analytic. In the dramatic we form our opinions of the characters
from what they do and say, from their environment, and what other characters think of them. In the analytic method the author comments upon the characters, explaining their motives, their appearance, and their thoughts.
In describing people in the narrative works, there are several ways may be used: personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reactions, and inner thoughts.
2. Patriarchy
Patriarchy describes a social structure where the actions and ideas of men and boys are dominant over women and girls. This circumstance of male dominance is reflected in correlative inequalities throughout the society. In a family, the father or the eldest male is considered the patriarch or “head of the household”.
Similarly, Hooks (2000:42) states that patriarchy literally means ‘father rule’. In practice, it is the institutionalisation and legitimation of sexism. Patriarchy is the systemisation of the oppression of women by social structure such as marriage, heterosexually, laws, policies, and even language. Feminist have written about, analysed and fought against patriarchy on numerous levels. Mies adds
The concept of patriarchy was re-discovered by the new feminist movement as a struggle concept, because the movement needed a term by which the totality of oppressive and exploitative relations which affect women, could be expressed as well as their systematic character (1986:37)
Moreover, the term ‘patriarchy’ denotes the historical and societal
biological interpretations, in contrast, for example, to the concept of ‘male dominance’.
In Palestinian society– as in all patriarchal societies–men are considered to have an advantage in resources, and perceived as enjoying superior personal characteristics, as well as skills and abilities that are supposedly possessed exclusively by men, including intelligence, wisdom, discretion, knowledge, professional prestige, the ability to make a living, etc. According to Gerber (1995:70), “society expects men to be more achievement-driven and competitive than women and to be better able to fulfil themselves”. Men are also expected to be more dominant than women and above all to dominate them”. Consequently,
Dobash et all (1992:16) stated in Women, Violence, and Social Change that the social movements, especially women’s movements, are composed of collective
3. Feminism
“The emergence of feminist ideas and feminist politics depend on the understanding that, in all societies which all divide the sexes into differing cultural, economic, or political spheres, women are less valued than men” (Humm, 1992:1).
Regarding Humm’s statement above, feminism arises from the consciousness against the oppression, subordination, and discrimination towards women in every aspect of life due to the stereotype that women are less valuable than men. In general, the feminist agenda is creating a better world where there is equality between men and women, thus, there are different analyses in finding what and how women are oppressed. Ellen Willis also noted that the feminism theory aims to challenge and overthrow patriarchy by opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women (Willis, 1992:117), creating equality beetwen both genders.
This thesis tries to show the rebellion of inequality of gender. Therefore, it is important to understand the general idea about feminism which is equality. Both of women and men have same freedom to be free. Jo freeman in Women: The Feminist Perspective says that either men or women are born to be free and want to
place equally. They have the same rights in front of God (Freeman, 1975:439). Therefore, women should have the same rights as men to be treated equally.
Unfortunately, women have been conditioned to believe that they are inferior to men, and it seems that people’s thought and belief about this condition is acceptable and naturally true (Montagu, 1953:23).Women also perform most of the household chores. It is the most prominent stereotype towards women.
Similarly, Williams and Best (1990:125) state that gender stereotyping toward women also occurred in the education aspects. Cultures vary somewhat regarding the full range of traits and abilities associated with each gender, but in nearly all cultures, women are more associated with communal traits and men are more associated with agentic traits. Indeed, gender stereotyping is often used to justify the nurturing roles assigned to women, although research suggests that differential social roles actually create gender stereotypes (Eagly & Steffen, 1984:164).
are assumed to be more active and aggressive, they typically are educated to assume the leadership roles in society, whether those roles are in business or politics. The education of boys, therefore, is given higher priority than the education of girls, as can be seen in the statistics on school attendance in developing countries. Boys often receive encouragement and training to pursue the paying and higher-status jobs in a culture because boys are seen as both more ‘‘naturally’’ inclined to such work as well as the more likely breadwinner in a family.
These stereotypes and perceptions in society rise feminism. Feminism appears because the unfair acts and treatment toward woman in society. Men often oppress and control women in many ways. It is believed by nature that women’s place is in the house, caring for husband, and children. Women are not given a chance to develop their potentialities in spheres. (Fakih, 1996:69).
Deborah L. Madsen in Feminist Theory and Literary Practice states that feminist literary theory has three main aims. First is to show the readers about the issue of patriarchal power that has structured in society. Second is to re-establish various achievements of women. Third is to find the new perspective about women and theory that shapes our lives (Madsen, 2000: 15). Ms. Arksonkool also said in
the International Seminar on Women’s Education and Empowerment that an individual empowerment of women is attained in relationship to the larger society (1975:9).
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the persuade of happiness (1975:493).
Particularly, this thesis deals with the unequal treatment that women get in patriarchal society because they are considered as inferior people who are powerless anduseless. The division of gender roles which is based on ‘sex class’ then triggers inequality which affects other women economically, culturally, and socially. This situation then occurs feminist theory that tries to oppose the oppression toward women which is based on sex class. This theory tries to show how women as different sex from men accept different treatment in society. The aims of this feminist theory is to emphasize in “destroying” sex-class system by showing and proving that women have the same power to struggle with men. The agent who suppresses women’s movement is the supremacy privileges that men have over
women (Madsen, 2000: 153).
Paludi (2010:68) states that, “the socialization of girls influences gender differentiation in personality characteristics and values”. For example, girls are often socialized to believe that when they become women, they should place other things ahead of their career advancement, such as home and family. Even if women do not hold these values as primary, they are often perceived as holding these values by the corporation; corporate managers do not promote people to positions of power who do not hold career as their main priority.
this “failure of feminity”. Women are still, to certain extent, expected to value children and taking care of the home and family as a priority; women who deviate from this convention are often viewed with judgement. Regarding to those problems, feminism theory reveal the truth that men and women should be equal politically, economically, and socially.
Similarly, Caroline Mooser states that the empowerment approach, which recognizes the triple role of women in the family, economic production and the community, and recommends challenging the social structure and oppresive situation women have to suffer. Women have to increase their power not in terms of domination over others, but in terms of gains over their self-esteem and internal force. This means women have the right to decide about their own life and to influence social change, through their ability to gain control over crucial natural and cultural resources (Moser 1992:49).
Palestinian women in this novel, especially the daughters, has represented the feminist movement. Their thoughts and views, the job opportunity they got and politic organization they joined are the results of the education background that they experienced. Stromquist said in The practical and the theoretical bases for empowerment that cognitive, psychological and political are part of empowerment’s components. These components are related to the understanding of
to Sime (1991:50). He adds that in political perspective searches for a democratic society through the full participation of all people in social life regardless of their race, social status and gender. It also looks forward for people to achieve peace, tolerance, and solidarity. It promotes the empowerment of minority groups, popular and marginal sectors of society, and women to be able to influence social and political decisions.
They have proved that their life as Palestinian women, who was still under Israel occupation, could be an educated women with excellent thoughts and views, their contribution to their society, family and nations. As Nagat El-Sanabary informed inWomen’s Education in Developing Countriesthat some Middle Eastern countries have well-developed education systems. Generally, the more developed and diversified the education system, the better are the educational opportunities for girls and women (1993:147).
C. Theoretical Framework
There are some theories used and related in this study. Those theories helped the researcher to answer the questions of problem formulation in the previous chapter.
The theory of patriarchy are used to help the researcher analysing how the female characters, the mothers’ part experienced patriarchy practice in their life. In
conclusion, the researcher wants to give a description about the Palestinian women’s life under patriarchy rules that depicted in the mothers’ era in 1948.
22
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This section consists of four parts: object of the study, approach of the study, and research method.
A. Object of the study
Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’s novelThree Mothers, Three Daughters is the source of the study. The object of the study is how education in Palestine have a big role in these women’s life. This literary works consists of 92 pages. Its content focuses on presenting six remarkable life narratives from Palestinian women living in the Occupied Territories and Israel. By selecting three mother/daughter pairs from very different social and political circumstances, they represent, in dramatic scope of life, many elements of the twentieth-century Palestinian experience.
Three Mothers, Three Daughters is a novel written by Michael Gorkin and
his co-writer Rafiqa Othman in 1996, and was published by University of California press, also in 1996. It has been translated to various language, and is published in many countries. Three Mothers, Three Daughters is an excellent source that documents the life experiences of Palestinian women who have witnessed very difficult personal and national events. It is also a good example of how life stories introduce complex questions of identity and perspective into larger national histories.
are debated by the six women in this story. Their lives have been touched deeply by the loss of Palestine, although some are more open than the other about their political involvement. One mother-daughter pair have been very affected, many of the daughter’s siblings have been imprisoned and tortured because of their
involvement with the PLO and the first Intifada. By contrast, another pair shows lack of interest in political involvement, but they are still affected with the trauma of clashes with the Israeli government, family separation, and the loss of property and honour due to the 1948 war. In the stories of family, motherhood, and partnership that has been told from all of the accounts, authors of the novel are telling the reader with a full picture of how complex everyday people’s lives are. In the case of the Palestinians, these issues are bound up in the nationalist cause, which could cause a more complicated problems.
B. Approach of the Study
C. Method of the Study
There were some steps in this analysis. The first step was collecting the data, such as why these women was ruled by the patriarchal society in the first place, what their reaction was towards patriarchy, and how they respond to it through educational aspects and what their aspirations were for the future. The data were collected by reading the novel and understand it deeply.
The next step was analysing the data. The analysis of the data was based on the problem stated in the problem formulation in Chapter I. To answer the first problem, the intrinsic features of the data have to be found, such as the characters, their story, and their message towards the society.
25
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter aims to answer the two problems that are stated in the first chapter. There are two parts in this chapter. The focus of the first part is to answer the first problem which is the analysis of the mothers’ life which under patriarchy
and their perspective towards it. The second is the analysis on how feminism and education have a role for the daughters, as the background of the female characters to live better.
A. Patriarchal domination in theMothers’ life
Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman’sThree Mothers, Three Daughters has six female characters – mothers and daughters, which formed in pairs, Umm Mahmud and Marianne, Umm Abdullah and Samira, and Umm Khaled and Leila. The mother’s life depicted in this novel experienced kind of patriarchal practice
which then changed their perspectives and made them to struggle for the better life. Meanwhile, the daughters’ life era had been the result of her mother’s perspectives
1. Umm Mahmud’s experience in the patriarchal society
In the Three Mothers, Three Daughters, Umm Mahmud is described as a short-heavy-hipped woman, seventy-two years old. She is a modest and traditional woman. Born in 1921, as the British mandate period was about to begin, Umm Mahmud spent her childhood and early adulthood in a turbulent period of Palestinian history, yet as a Palestinian living in the East Jerusalem, her life was unavoidably affected by the political waves that engulfed the area. From this characterization, the description of how Umm Mahmud looks like by using her personal description e.g. her age, her usual places to live, her marriage status is revealed. Recognizing the character’s personal description in the beginning, leads to the view of Palestinian women’s life.
Furthermore, Umm Mahmud in this story told about her past life. One of them was about her opportunities to go to school.
“I’d see them go off with their school bags. I was so envious, I wanted to go too.”
“When my father came homeshe(Umm Mahmud’s mother) told him, but he immediately answered, “No, she’s not going! What does she need school for? It will only make her strong-willed.”
“My father-blessed be his memory-he was an educated men. He knew how to read and write in Arabic and in English too. But he didn’t want me to learn.” (Gorkin, 1996:11)
Another discussion was about the duty as a girl in household. Umm Mahmud stated that, while some of her friends were off school, she was at home. There were others like her too –girls who stayed at home and did chores. One of things she had to do was fetch water. This shows that her life was about to be a girl in the home only without getting a formal education. As Paludi (2010:68) stated before that women are still, to certain extent, expected to value children and taking care of the home and family as a priority.
“I was in the house, cleaning and wanted to be clever and do a real good job that day.”(Gorkin, 1996:11)
Patriarchy rules also occurred in her marriage arrangement. Her father chose her marriage partner without her consideration.
“My father chose my husband for me. What, the girl chooses her own husband? It was arranged by my father.”
“The party ended and I was married. Fourteen years old and a bride. Sure, it was too young. I think a girl should be twenty years old when she marries. That’s not too late. There’s plenty of time to have children and the girl knows more at twenty. What did I know? I was ignorant…” (Gorkin, 1996:12-13)
The statement above shows that how patriarchy rules affected her life, in the aspect of marriage partner and the decision-making that supposed to be her rights. This means that, at that time, women’s life was arranged perfectly to be only a housewife. It is similar with what Hooks (2000:42) states that patriarchy is the systemisation of the oppression of women by social structure such as marriage, heterosexually, laws, policies, and even language.
because of the father’s rule on her life, she could not have gone to school and get education. She then argued that she passed her wish to all her children.
“Now I have educated children myself, boys and girls.”
“My children, they wanted to teach me when they were going to school. Too late. When you’re a girl, that’s the time to learn. My father, blessed be his memory, didn’t want me to learn. And that’s the way it was.” (Gorkin, 1996:11)
From the statements above, it can be concluded that although she is uneducated woman, she wanted her daughter to get education and live better. Her last daughter’s name is Marianne. In educating her, Umm Mahmud did not apply the patriarchal rules.
“Seriously, I wouldn’t mind if Marianne meets someone –a person from here (America)–who wants to live there. Up until now, she has had many suitors. Some were uneducated and untrained. She didn’t want any of them. She wants an educated man, someone like herself. Alright, let it be an willingness to get a better life, which then experienced by her daughters. She purely did not want that her daughters experienced the same situation like hers in the past life.
2. Umm Abdullah’s experiences in the patriarchal society
- and pride - in having lived through, and endured, a hard history. That findings has shown to us, as a reader, that in that time, the Palestinian women’s life was full of tragedy because of Israel-Palestinian conflict and the war period of it, has brought a hard life as women. Furthermore, her past life, shown us that patriarchy also occurred in her life. In Umm Abdullah’s case, what she had experienced was not different with Umm Mahmud’s. When she was young, she did not have any opportunity to go to school because there is no formal school, but only a Koran-study school called Kuttab. It was about a schoolroom for boys, where the boys would go and sit on straw mats on the floor and learn the Koran.
At that time, she only worked. A job she liked was taking care of the lambs and also, she helped her mother in housework or in the field.
“When I wasn’t playing, I was working. A job I liked was taking care of lambs. My father entrusted me with that.”
“Let see, besides the work with the lambs, I’d also help my mother. Housework or in the fields-whatever she wanted. I was a good child, an obedient child.” (Gorkin, 1996:45)
Those findings clearly shown that there was nothing to do for a girl except, helping her parents. She did not have a chance to get an education in formal school. In her young age, the girls in that time are forced to get married. Umm Abdullah told that her sister were forced by her father to get married soon. In fact, her age was still thirteen years old. Her mother also experienced the same.
“Poor thing! My father married her off at thirteen years old. In that time, theyused to marry the girls off at twelve, thirteen or fourteen.”
The forces that occurred in the family are seen as the patriarchy rules. It was done by the fathers as their way to protect the authority of men. In Palestinian society, consequently, many Palestinian men tend to believe that any threat to their inherent male superiority or to what they and society perceive as male privileges justifies the use force (Dobash et all, 1992:16).
Another occurrence of patriarchal practice was about their indecisiveness to tell what they want as women directly. In that case, girls at that time were so obedient and afraid of their father.
“My mother did not want to get married, but back then you married when your father told you to marry. You did not dare say anything.”
“I was sixteen years old. My father said “Yes”, “Khalas”, you’re marrying this one!.”
“But back then I had no choice. My father decided and I had to go along.” (Gorkin, 1996:46-48)
time there. This case is similar to what Viola Klein stated in The historical background of feminism. The endeavour to reinstate women in the economic
process, on the one hand, and to restrict the size of families, on the other, has continued from then on up to the present day. At all times, however, the common characteristic of women’s work, as contrasted with men’s, was, first of all, that it was subsidiary (i.e., that it involved assisting the men of the family (fathers, husbands, brothers)) rather than independent; secondly, and closely connected with this fact, that it was paid at a lower rate, if it received any payment at all, and was not included in the family wage; and, thirdly, that it was mostly unskilled. (Klein, 1973:521)
3. Umm Khaled’s experience in thepatriarchal society
Umm Khaled, at seventy-two years old, is one of who lived through this recent turbulent period in the history of Abu Ghosh. It is here, as a citizen of Israel, that she raised her family of sixteen children. Today all of these children are grown, and most continue to live in the village. Umm Khaled’s childhood was spent in Jerusalem, where he moved after her father became a policeman.
In Jerusalem, she had a very good style of living. Her father got a big salary, five pounds a month. With that money, her father sends her old brother to school, best of the best school.
That situation leads to gender stereotypes. Eagly & Steffen (1984) states that gender stereotypes affect educational opportunities. Because boys are assumed to be more active and aggressive, they typically are educated to assume the leadership roles in society, whether those roles are in business or politics. The education of boys, therefore, is given higher priority than the education of girls, as can be seen in the statistics on school attendance in developing countries. Boys often receive encouragement and training to pursue the paying and higher-status jobs in a culture because boys are seen as both more “naturally” inclined to such work as well as the more likely breadwinner in a family.
In that case, the father’s rule as a form of patriarchy occurred clearly towards her life. It is when her father chose to take her out from school and bought them a sewing machine. Her father must be sure that his intention was about asking her daughters to do household chores like sewing ripped-clothes.
“I went a year to a school near al-Aqsa Mosque. I learned to read a little, but I don’t remember now. My father took me out of school after the first grade. He bought me a sewing machine. How did I feel about that? Well, it wasn’t my fate to learn. Back then they didn’t encourage girls to learn, not like today.” (Gorkin, 1996:64)
B. Feminism and Education Reflected by the Daughters
In this analysis, the researcherwants to depict the daughters’ era which more educated, modern and skilful women. Their life background as the educated women have led them to study up to college-level, work and feel freedom in choosing what they want to be and to do. The researcher uses the theory of character and characterization and also, the theory of feminism in relation to education to reveal the cases and the experiences of them as educated and open-minded women. They are Marianne, Samira, and Leila.
1. Marianneand her view towards Palestinian women’s stereotype
Marianne is the youngestof Umm Mahmud’s thirteen children and the only one still living the house where she grew up. Although twenty-seven years old, she seems younger, with a sense of playfulness, even mischievousness, about her. Unlike her mother, who wears the modest attire of traditional women (long dresses and a head scarf), Marianne prefers Western clothes (jeans, skirts, jerseys, and blouses) that accentuate her slim figure.
The author describes the characteristics of Marianne from her looks, her dresses, and the behaviours. It can be simplified that Marianne’s character was a typical Palestinian woman who knows about modern lifestyles.
Marianne confessed about her own life that differ with her mother’s life
“So I finished high school and then I went to college. No, I wasn’t the first. Let’s see, among my sisters three went up to sixth grade, one went to high school, and three of us went to college. Of the girls, I went the furthest. Among my brothers, three went to high school and three went to college. That’s pretty good, don’t you think? About half of us have college education. That’s not bad if you consider that my father and my mother, between them, never completed one year of school. That’s the way it is now with the Palestinians. Education, education. Everyone who can go to university, goes. Boys and girls, too.”(Gorkin, 1996:19)
That statement was the fact that in the Marianne’s era, education is seen as
important and everybody goes to schools and universities to get education. As Nagat El-Sanabary informed inWomen’s Education in Developing Countries that some Middle Eastern countries have well-developed education systems. Generally, the more developed and diversified the education system, the better are the educational opportunities for girls and women (1993:147).
It is fortunate for Marianne, when she gets an opportunity to get education, up to college-level. Her parents were really supporting her to get education up to college level. Furthermore, she thought that she did not want to be a girl who only stayed at home, cleaned, and cooked all day, to be a servant. She only knew that her willingness was studying.
“For me, there was never any question about it. I never imagined for a minute that I’d finish a school and just sit around the home. What, I was going to stay here and clean and cook all day, and be a servant? No, no, that’s not for me.” (Gorkin, 1996:20)
teaching certificate. She then became a teacher, a math and science teacher in an elementary school level in Jerusalem.
“I’m working this year as a math and science teacher in an elementary school here in East Jerusalem. I teach third graders. It’s school for girls only. I like my job. I like teaching the students and they like me too, no doubt about it.”(Gorkin, 1996:33)
Marianne’s experiences in education field is similar to what Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics: Women and Men has revealed, that Palestinian
community colleges, especially females, comprise the overwhelming majority of academic, social work, and para-medical graduates (1997:38). It also revealed that the proportion of female teaching staff decreases at higher levels of the educational system.(1997: 40)
Because of the education itself, the ways of her thinking were broadly opened. One of it was the religion aspect in her. She states that she is not an observant Muslim in the way she dress.
“I just don’t like wearing the religious garb – dresses that cover the arms and legs, head coverings. I like to wear skirt and short dresses.”
“I know my mother, and I guess my father too, doesn’t feel I’m religious enough.”(Gorkin, 1996:21)
Those decision-making on the way she dressed, lead to her views towards fundamentalists who looked down on women and too strict about the dresses that women should wear.
us, it’s part of the religion. But look, I know there are some fundamentalists who interpret Islam in an erroneous way. They use the religion to come down on woman. One of these fundamentalists are much too strict with women, always watching them to make sure their behaviour is absolutely proper, always checking to make sure nobody is looking at women. This is not the way to be. I’m against that type of thing.”(Gorkin, 1996:32) She also discussed Palestinian kids who joined and involved in intifada. They were all uneducated and not learn anything. Without education like that, they were for sure going to serve Israel as the simple workers, the cheap labor in Israel’s economy. She thought that Palestinian people need educated people to build a Palestinian state. She also said that she will support Hamas, but one condition: everyone is permitted to express their own views. Also, in a state run according to true Islamic principles, women have their rights.
“I mean, the right to education, to work, to choose a husband. The fundamentalists here, Hamas, agree with this. They support women’s right to get an education and work alongside men, on the condition that women be dressed modestly and behave properly.”(Gorkin, 1996:32)
According to Freeman in Women a Feminist Perspective 3rdEdition, all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the persuade of happiness (1975:493).
2. Samira’s involvement in Palestinian women’ organization
On the outskirts of Bethlehem, Samira grew up along with her eight brothers and two sisters, and it was here that she got married and raised her two children. At the age of thirty-one, Samira has been a political activist for most of her life and spent three years in jail for throwing a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers. When she speaks, there is an openness about her.
When she was at seventh grade, she started to get interested in involving on politics. She finally found things that has become her passion.
“From seventh grade on, I began to have some friends who came from outside the camp. We were going to the UNRWA junior high school here together. And it was through them that I began to get interested in politics. I started to write about my feelings—about poverty and suffering. My friends gave me political books to read, things about the Palestinian struggle, books on Marxism and class struggle.”
“By the time I got to high school, tenth through twelfth grades, I already had developed strong political opinions. More than that, I had begun to see that I wanted to fight for my views. I was reading all kinds of things–books by Victor Hugo, Maxim Gorky, and more political books. I remember one book that really excited me. It was called Al - Fedaiyin (the Guerrillas). It’s a book that talked about the fedaiyin camps in Jordan, the training the fighters went through, and some of the actions they went on. I began to feel I wanted to be like them”.(Gorkin, 1996:38)
According to Ms. Arksonkool inthe International Seminar on Women’s Education
and Empowerment, an individual empowerment of women is attained in
relationship to the larger society (1975:9). Samira’s awareness and her critical views are similar to what Citing Depthnews states that, it is a process in which women gain control over their own lives by knowing and claiming their rights at all levels of society at the international, local, and household levels (1975:9).
“I finished up high school in East Jerusalem. You see, I was actually a very good student, I had outstanding grades even with my political involvement. It was a good high school to attend if you wanted to go on to college. And I did. Out of the girls in my graduation class, I had the second highest score. This was high enough for me to go to college and good enough for me to get a scholarship, too.”(Gorkin, 1996:40-41)
According to her statement, her intended to go forward to university means that she wanted to be educated women, who can improve her point of views toward what her life would be. She had views that education was really important and need to be finished in order to get better life. Her strong willingness to continue her education up to college level is a prove to empower herself in fighting her wants and views. As she went to college, her involvement in politics becomes deeper. She even attacked Israeli soldiers by throwing a Molotov cocktail at Israeli bus full of soldiers and settlers, which led to her imprisonment for three years.
Her action is similar with what Caroline Mooser stated that women have to increase their power not in terms of domination over others, but in terms of gains over their self-esteem and internal force. This means women have their right to decide about their own life and to influence social change, through their ability to gain control over crucial natural and cultural resources.’ (1992:49)
In jail, there were a community of women who has similar personality with her. They were educated, brave, and open-minded like her. While in jail, Samira learn a lot about life, and also about politics.
“From then on, until I got out, my life was pretty much the same—work and study, like that. The fact is, I actually got a lot out of my time there. I mean, I learned a lot. The courses in prison were more interesting, for sure. But more than that, I would say that I learned about life there, about the important things. How to relate to people, how to stay loyal to your ideas, how to plan for the future.”(Gorkin, 1996:43)
From these excerpts above we can see that Samira had took a different path towards education than most Palestinian women had in the past, especially her mother, that even when she was in jail, she still determined to study, even with a very limited tools there. Furthermore, since she was in high school, tenth through twelfth grades, Samira has developed her views in political matters. She stated that she had strong opinions towards what Israel had been done to Palestinians.
She also stated that she wanted to get rid out of the Israeli occupation. She struggled for it in her life by getting involved in political organization, in order to fight against Israel occupation.
“Our struggle right now, the way I see it, is to get rid of the Israeli army that’s occupying us here in the West Bank. I‘ve lived all my life under this occupation, and my struggle now, and from the time I got involved in politics, was against this occupation. These were the injustices that were always before my eyes, and more than anything, this is why I got involved in the National struggle back when I was still a teenager.”(Gorkin, 1996:40)
Samira’s actions in involving the national struggle is similar to what Allan Touraine in Dobash et all (1992:16) stated in Women, Violence, and Social Change that the social movements, especially women’s movements, are composed of
collective action of those seeking control of ‘the great cultural orientations by which a society’s…relationships are normatively organized’, what he calls ‘historicity’. The social movement is the organized collective behaviour of a class actor (in this case women) struggling against her adversary for the social control of historicity in a concrete community.’
Her political goals, and her life in general, had a clearer focus to make changes in Palestinian society. When the Intifada began in 1987, it really affected her life. She continued going to Bethlehem University to get her degree. Beside studied, she also took most of the time to do political work and involved in the Women’s Comittee for Social Work, that is affiliated with Fatah, and is one of four
working as an organizer of women in the villages and refugee camps in the Bethlehem area.
“With the Intifada, the Palestinian struggle had become a true mass movement, and there was a need to involve women in a constructive way. I’m talking abut women from the villages and refugee camps, women who’d never been involved in political or social activism in their lives - women like my mother.”(Gorkin, 1996: 53-54)
This can be related to Sime (1991:50). He adds that in political perspective searches for a democratic society through the full participation of all people in social life regardless of their race, social status and gender. It also looks forward for people to achieve peace, tolerance, and solidarity. It promotes the empowerment of minority groups, popular and marginal sectors of society, and women to be able to influence social and political decisions.
Samira’s existence as educated woman, helped and made changes for the other Palestinian women to speak out what they wanted to speak and to act they wanted to act. She drew an example from the women in the villages and camps, just like her mother, that have begun to free themselves from the domination of their husbands. She stated that, “Palestinian women now begin to understand that her
views are worth something, that they have something to say and contribute together to the society, not justto their family.” (Gorkin, 1996:54)
empowerment’s components. These components are related to the understanding of women’s condition of subordination (cognitive); the development of feelings that
women can act upon to improve their conditions (psychological); the ability to organize and mobilize for social changes (political). (1993:50)
Samira has proved that she has the ability to promote women in refugees and villages and reshape relations in the public sphere of society through organisations itself. Thus, her view about education is rather open-minded, differed from her mother.
“I had no idea what I wanted to studyat college. I just knew I wanted someday to do something special, to make some special contribution to my people. Dreams, dreams, that’s what I brought with me to college. But eventually, I was more interested in my friends and political involvement. Also, I met my husband there. Like me, he was very involved in politics. There were many things we agreed on completely. About the need for national struggle and the need to take personal action—for sure, we agreed.”(Gorkin, 1996:40) “I have to say that our society is terribly repressed this way. I managed, I did what I wanted. But still, a woman and a man who love each other should be obliged to sneak around like me and my husband did. I believe a woman should be free to do what she wants with the man she loves. Is she wants, she should be free to go out with him. I loved my husband, so why shouldn’t I have been free to do what I wanted with him? In our society, there’s no support for the idea of going out before marriage. In my view, a lot of the problems that young people have in here have to do with the fact that they are frustrated and repressed in this area. Our society is sick in this way, very sick. That’s the way I see it.”(Gorkin, 1996:52)
Samira knew that in order to change her life, the only way was by changing the society. Since her mother was illiterate, and all her siblings did not really want to teach her because they were simply too busy, she learned that she had to rely on herself to reach her dreams.
3. Leila’s effort to get higher education
Leila is Umm Khaled’s eighth child and fourth daughter. She is a
pleasant-looking woman of forty-two who speaks in a rush words and is open about her views and sentiments. Unlike her mother, however, she has a modern, fashionable look to her: She wears makeup, she does not cover her long brown hair with a head scarf, and she prefers blouses and dresses bought in department stores of Tel Aviv.
Furthermore, she talks about her experience at school. According to her story, she only went until eighth grade, she still wants to pursue her study to high school, but there was not any high school at her village at that time.
“Thething I really liked as a child was going to school. I went from first to eight grade. That’s all we had in the village then, there was no high school. I wanted to study more, to be a nurse maybe. But my parents didn’t agree to my leaving the village and going to Jerusalem to high school. I was proud to be at school. I like learning things, new things. Which subjects? I liked English that was my favourite. And Hebrew, we learned that too, starting in fifth grade I used to speak it fairly well. And let’s see, what else did we learn? Oh, math—that was the hardest for me, sure. And then there was religion, geography, history, and Arabic.”(Gorkin, 1996:72)
rather fortunate because at first, her parents refused again but she does not give up and seek help from a respected nurse there.
“What I really wanted was continue in school. Well, a lucky thing happened. Just then, here in the village they opened up this one-year trade school for girls exactly my age. They gave courses in Hebrew, Arabic, math, and also taught you how to sew. I was eager to go. I went to my parents and told them, but they refused. “Leila has gone to school long enough,” my father said. I didn’t know what to do, and then I figured I’d go to Margalit. She was a nurse in the health clinic in the village. Everyone respect her, my mother, too. I then went to Margalit, and I could see she was on my side. The next thing I knew, she had gone to my parents and they agreed.”(Gorkin, 1996:75)
She also had a view about what women should do for their continuing life. That is, establishing a career and then taking time out works well for some women. The works or a job that attract women at that time is, teaching or nursing. It is because these careers offer some flexibility for fitting in families. The quotation below was the example of when she talked about her job as a child caretaker.
“But taking care of other’s people children, doing it as a job – that’s fine with me. I like it. You know that’s what I do, right? I’ve been doing it for five or six years. The children I take care of now are all from Abu Ghosh.” (Gorkin, 1996:78)
“So that evening he comes home and told ourneighbour who was sitting with me then. She immediately said she was interested. After she left I got mad at Walid. “Why not ask me?” I said. Walid said that since he was a building contractor there, he was embarrassed to suggest me. But I didn’t let him get away with that. I pressed him, and finally he agreed. Haya began bringing her daughter, Miriam, to me.”(Gorkin, 1996:78)
46
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This thesis focuses on the role of education of Palestinian women as revealed in Three Mothers, Three Daughters by Michael Gorkin and Rafiqa Othman. Therefore, there are two problems that must be answered in the thesis. The first problem is about themother’s life which under patriarchal domination and their perspective towards it. The second problem is how feminism and education have a role for the daughters.
There are six major characters that are described in Three Mothers, Three Daughters, they are Umm Mahmud, Umm Khaled, and Umm Abdullah as the
arranged by her father when she was only thirteen years old. In Umm Khaled’s life, she also had the same experience like Umm Mahmud’s and Umm Abdullah’s. Her life was ruled by her father occurred clearly towards her life. It is when her father chose to take her out from school and bought them a sewing machine. Her father must be sure that his intention was about asking her daughters to do household chores like sewing ripped-clothes.
According to above findings, in the mothers parts showed vary of patriarchal domination towards them. In their life, especially in the family, a father is the men who is dominating. All decision is on the hand of father. The father who own the decision to not allow his daughters go to school, with whom they should be marry, and their work or chores they should do as a woman, in the family.
