That situation leads to gender stereotypes. Eagly Steffen 1984 states that gender stereotypes affect educational opportunities. Because boys are assumed
to be more active and aggressive, they typically are educated to assume the leadership roles in society, whether those roles are in business or politics. The
education of boys, therefore, is given higher priority than the education of girls, as can be seen in the statistics on school attendance in developing countries. Boys
often receive encouragement and training to pursue the higher-paying and higher- status jobs in a c
ulture because boys are seen as both more “naturally” inclined to such work as well as the more likely breadwinner in a family.
In that case, the father’s rule as a form of patriarchy occurred clearly towards her life. It is when her father chose to take her out from school and bought them a
sewing machine. Her father must be sure that his intention was about asking her daughters to do household chores like sewing ripped-clothes.
“I went a year to a school near al-Aqsa Mosque. I learned to read a little, but I don’t remember now. My father took me out of school after the first grade.
He bought me a sewing machine. How did I feel about that? Well, it wasn’t my fate to learn. Back then they didn’t encourage girls to learn, not like
today.” Gorkin, 1996:64
H er feeling towards her father’s action was about her disbelief that her father
only let her to study in one year. Referring to her feeling andor emotions as form of inner thoughts, we can know that the character, in here Umm Khaled, was so
deeply hurt, a typical calm woman, who barely spoke her minds out, and a passive person who only receiving that kind of situation.
B. Feminism and Education Reflected by the Daughters
In this analysis, the researcher wants to depict the daughters’ era which more
educated, modern and skilful women. Their life background as the educated women have led them to study up to college-level, work and feel freedom in choosing what
they want to be and to do. The researcher uses the theory of character and characterization and also, the theory of feminism in relation to education to reveal
the cases and the experiences of them as educated and open-minded women. They are Marianne, Samira, and Leila.
1. Marianne and her view towards Palestinian women’s stereotype
Marianne is the youngest of Umm Mahmud’s thirteen children and the only
one still living the house where she grew up. Although twenty-seven years old, she seems younger, with a sense of playfulness, even mischievousness, about her.
Unlike her mother, who wears the modest attire of traditional women long dresses and a head scarf, Marianne prefers Western clothes jeans, skirts, jerseys, and
blouses that accentuate her slim figure. The author describes the characteristics of Marianne from her looks, her
dresses, and the behaviour s. It can be simplified that Marianne’s character was a
typical Palestinian woman who knows about modern lifestyles. Marianne confessed about her own life that differ with her mother’s life
which are under patriarchy rules. She stated that her father was nice to her, never hit her, never stopped her to do anything and allowed her to play with boys. It means
that, Marianne’s life was better than her mother’s life. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
“So I finished high school and then I went to college. No, I wasn’t the first. Let’s see, among my sisters three went up to sixth grade, one went to high
school, and three of us went to college. Of the girls, I went the furthest. Among my brothers, three went to high school and three went to college.
That’s pretty good, don’t you think? About half of us have college education. That’s not bad if you consider that my father and my mother,
between them, never completed one year of school. That’s the way it is now with the Palestinians. Education, education. Everyone who can go to
university, goes. Bo
ys and girls, too.” Gorkin, 1996:19 That statement was the fact that in the Marianne’s era, education is seen as
important and everybody goes to schools and universities to get education. As Nagat El-Sanabary informed in Women’s Education in Developing Countries that
some Middle Eastern countries have well-developed education systems. Generally, the more developed and diversified the education system, the better are the
educational opportunities for girls and women 1993:147. It is fortunate for Marianne, when she gets an opportunity to get education,
up to college-level. Her parents were really supporting her to get education up to college level. Furthermore, she thought that she did not want to be a girl who only
stayed at home, cleaned, and cooked all day, to be a servant. She only knew that her willingness was studying.
“For me, there was never any question about it. I never imagined for a minute that I’d finish a school and just sit around the home. What, I was
going to stay here and clean and cook all day, and be a servant? No, no, that’s not for me.” Gorkin, 1996:20
Marriane, then continued her education in Abu Dis College. She stated that she had to study very hard in there. She also said that she did not have much time
to have fun with her friends because of her willingness to study focusly. Furthermore, she continued her study in Bethlehem University in order to take her
teaching certificate. She then became a teacher, a math and science teacher in an elementary school level in Jerusalem.
“I’m working this year as a math and science teacher in an elementary school here in East Jerusalem. I teach third graders. It’s school for girls only.
I like my job. I like teaching the students and they like me too, no doubt about it.”Gorkin, 1996:33
Marianne’s experiences in education field is similar to what Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics: Women and Men has revealed, that Palestinian
community colleges, especially females, comprise the overwhelming majority of academic, social work, and para-medical graduates 1997:38. It also revealed that
the proportion of female teaching staff decreases at higher levels of the educational system.1997: 40
Because of the education itself, the ways of her thinking were broadly opened. One of it was the religion aspect in her. She states that she is not an
observant Muslim in the way she dress. “I just don’t like wearing the religious garb – dresses that cover the arms
and legs, head coverings. I like to wear skirt and short dresses.” “I know my mother, and I guess my father too, doesn’t feel I’m religious
enough.” Gorkin, 1996:21 Those decision-making on the way she dressed, lead to her views towards
fundamentalists who looked down on women and too strict about the dresses that women should wear.
“Look it’s all right, I’ll wear the hejab and the long dresses. So? Our problem is not what we wear, this or that dress. The important things is what
women’s place will be in the society – honourable or not. It’s not the fundamentalist who are forcing us to dress modestly. Islam demands that of
