In The Gate to Womens Country Essay -- Gender Equality Feminism Essays

In The Gate to Womens Country Evolutionary gender determinism proves that men and women are different, not only in a physical way, but in a psychological way as well. As far as history can determine, men were always the hunters who were dominant and competitive. On the other hand, women were known as the gathers, who were cooperative and capable of doing several things at a time. Since men and women are different in their make up. It is a struggle for the two genders to live together and maintain equality and harmony without one gender dominating over the other. In The Gate to Womens Country, Sheri Tepper brings forth a solution that allows the two genders to coincide with each other. She gives a somewhat feminist view in her novel, which takes place some three hundred years into the future. She paints a picture stating that total control and dominance by men would wipe out the world. In order for all mankind to survive, the women and a few select men were forced to come together and make decisions that would cha nge things forever. This novel is filled with situations where each gender takes advantage of the opposite and uses them to profit their own society; however, each gender not only took advantage of the opposite gender, but often their own gender as well. This novel is based around two societies, one of which is governed by women and the other consists of male warriors. Womens Country is a community where women live in a city bordered by block walls. They live in this city with their children and servitors. Servitors are men who decided to live in the Womens Country instead of living in the garrisons with the other men. The women handled everything in these cities and made up the entire city council. This country t... ...n had to give up children that did not even belong to their men. The men were also guilty of using each other for personal gain. The men in the garrisons used the servitors to show off and promote their manliness. In turn, the servitors used the garrisons in the worst way. Not only did the warriors protect them but gave the servitors a chance at spreading their genes. The ultimate goal of these men. This novel revolves around the purpose of people using one another to get what they want. The citizens of Womens Country took advantage of the garrisons and the number of returning men proves their success. Like in most cases, people need others to succeed. John Donne stated that no man is an island and this applies to the Gate to Womens Country. The success of Womens Country is a result of taking advantage of their citizens and of the garrisons, to make a comeback.