The Butterflies Gender Roles

In the time of the butterflies is a novel in which gender issues became a huge factor. Women were meant to be the ones that are supposed to look after the children, and are not allowed to have any other job than that. Gender roles is a huge topic that is being brought forth in this book, because women were not allowed to have certain jobs, or any job at all. Women were needed to be the one to have children and to also be the ones to watch the children along with any other work around the household. The sisters each have different conflicts mentally and physically when it comes to the struggles and the issues with the revolution. Women were meant to abide by their father’s rules, and they were not able to live life the way that they wanted …show more content…
After slapping Minerva Papa says, “That’s to remind you that you owe your father some respect” (Alvarez 89). This shows how that a father in the Dominican Republic expect their daughters to treat them with the upmost respect and that women should not speak their minds towards men. Along those lines when Minerva got the invitation to Trujillo’s dinner she asked to if she could go to school to become a lawyer. Minerva wanting to be a lawyer is something that is uncommon for women in the Dominican Republic because they are to be mothers and wives nothing more and nothing less. When Minerva asked if she could be a lawyer with amusement Trujillo replies, “A woman like you a lawyer” (Alvarez 98). With the topic at hand Trujillo is showing how women having jobs is frowned upon. Women faced a lot of oppression during the regime when it came to them waiting to have an education. When telling Mate about University Minerva says, “We women at the University are particularly grateful for the opportunities afforded us for higher education in this regime” (Alvarez 136). Minerva is telling her sister how women should be grateful for educational opportunities because in the regime women do not get certain