Gender Division in Annawadian Society Anonymous 10th Grade

Gender division has been a global struggle for centuries, from rights to the general treatment of women. Women have been struggling to achieve equality because they have been experiencing discrimination, been steadily concerned about their futures and safety because they are female, and undergoing brutal cultural oppression by their communities. The book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo demonstrates a society in which the quality of life for women and girls is much poorer than it is for men and boys.

In Annawadi, rigid cultural restraints have formed restricting societal expectations and gender constructs that cause life to be worse for women than it is for men. Gender constructs influenced by societal expectations made life for women a constant battle of contemplating the risks of their actions that men would not need to consider. Unlike the men of Annawadi, the women are regularly conscious about how the results of their actions could be possibly detrimental to their societal ranking. Image plays a crucial role in making a decision that could be destructive to their placement in a community where survival is partially based on hierarchy. “A young woman in the slum had to weigh the value of each potential...