Essay Questions

How does childlessness impact Awino? - “Pay Day”

Ogot writes, “ Awino moved from doctor to doctor and all of them assured her that there was nothing wrong, that one day she would have a baby. But the years slipped by…an extra sound in the sometimes lonely house-grew like a stone wall between Julian and the woman who adored him.” Manifestly, childlessness interferes with the love between Awino and her husband. The metaphoric ‘ stone wall’ depicts the tension between the couple. Awino’s search for a solution from doctors indicates that she is convinced that she could be having a problem. Awino’s predicament depicts the stress which childless women endure, especially in African cultures.

How do misconceptions discourage women from embracing family planning? - “the other woman”

Ogot explains, “But her (Anna's) friend (Jedidah) had refused even to take pills because the local press has carried the story of a woman who died of thrombosis after going on them. Anna had then suggested the coil which so many other women were using. Jedidah had dismissed this lightly maintaining that the coil caused prickly heat on a woman’s birth canal.” Jedidah dreads dying as a result of using pills, yet not all women die after using them. The single case which is cited in the media cannot be said to be conclusive evidence reading the danger of the pills. Moreover, the argument concerning heat is not definitive because Jedidah has not tried the coil to ascertain if the assumption is valid or not. Misapprehensions about the side effects of birth control methods discourage women from planning their families.

What is the intersection between female circumcision and religion (Islam)? - “the other woman”

Ogot writes, “She (Jedidah) now realised that what Abedi was trying to tell her was that he as a Muslim did not play funny games with women like Achola who were uncircumcised.” Abedi’s excuse implies that Islam endorses female circumcision. Accordingly, Muslim men are not permitted to marry or be intimate with uncircumcised girls. For circumcision to cease, Islam as a religion must endorse its ideology and convince the adherents about the necessity of ending it.