"My name is August Epp—irrelevant for all purposes, other than that I've been appointed the minute-taker for the women's meetings because the women are illiterate and unable to do it themselves. And as these are the minutes, and I the minute-taker (and as I am a schoolteacher and daily instruct my students to do the same), I feel my name should be included at the top of the page together with the date."
The name of the novel is Women Talking, but these opening lines situate the patriarchal conditions by which these specific women—and by extension all women—have their words filtered through the dominance of misogyny. August Epp is charged by the women with the task of recording their discourse among each other because none of them have been schooled in reading and writing. Significant to note in light of these circumstances is the date on which these minutes were recorded by Epp: June 6-7, 2009. That date is important because the conditions by which these women live and the language with which Epp records his narrative observation of the meeting seem almost improbably out of sync with modern society. One might well assume this story is set in a much earlier time, perhaps as late as the early 20th century or as long ago as the colonial period. Epp's insistence that he is irrelevant to the proceedings is unintended irony which comments upon the history of women talking being recorded mostly through a male perspective.
"Yesterday, as I have been told by Ona, the women of Molotschna voted. There were three options on the ballot.
1. Do nothing.
2. Stay and Fight.
3. Leave."
The entire plot of the novel essentially revolves around this quote. More specifically, the three options. This is a tale about the ultimate in patriarchal control taking place within a rigidly misogynistic Mennonite community. The women have been victimized by a group of men who drug them during the night and sexually assault them. Despite this criminal act being known, however, the women—the victims—have been given these three choices. What is not made clear in this first written account of the options in the minutes recorded by August Epp is the full meaning of taking that first option. Leaving the cloistered society is clear enough. Staying and fighting is perhaps more complicated than it might seem. This society does not operate even according to the illusion of gender equity experienced in the rest of the country. Option number one is actually not quite accurate; not fully, at any rate. If the women decide to remain members of this community, it will require a public expression of forgiveness to each of their attackers. All illusions of equitable treatment have been stripped away to ironically reveal the deception of gender equality in the rest of modern society.
"Fourteen-year-old boys are expected to give us orders, to determine our fates, to vote on our excommunications, to speak at the burials of our own babies while we remain silent, to interpret the Bible for us, to lead us in worship, to punish us! We are not members, Mariche. We are commodities.”
Salome is one of the women talking of the title. Important to remember, however, is that her statements are being recorded by the only male present, August Epp. This is significant because he notes that "commodities" was not the word which Salome actually uses but is a rough translation of the phrase which she actually says. The complaint expressed by Salome in this quote is the essence of patriarchal rule. It is a system where dominance or submission is determined at birth and not through merit. The complaint of teenage boys wielding absolute influence over grown women may seem extreme but it merely expresses through symbolism the foundation of misogynistic patriarchal rule. Even this complaint about systemic masculine control of female human beings as being no different than owning a horse or a home must be conveyed through the facilitation of a male. This is the situation because these women have not been allowed to pursue education.
