home. Her main duty was to take care of the husband. The husband was the family provider. He was the one who supported the family financially. I have read a few stories now, and I can see that this is a type of power that is played out by the male characters in those stories. In Rifaat’s “Another Evening at the Club,” this was one of the main themes. It was a husband’s job to worry about where they shall live, and how they should live. The woman is merely another piece of property. The culture that this story takes place in, it is commonplace that a dowry is required by the bride’s family from the groom. He is, in a way, buying his piece of property. “He earns a big salary and gets a fully furnished government house wherever he’s posted, which will save us the expense of setting up a house – and I don’t have to tell you what our situation is - …” (Rifaat, page 54). This shows the bride’s family class and the eagerness of the family to marry their daughter off to someone who is in a higher class. Other ways men use their sex to gain Domestic power is to treat the woman as if she were a child. This oppression, if you will, is probably the worst way to obtain the power of the family. “Fine, go and tell her I want to speak to her. There’s no point in your saying anything but I think it would be as well if you were present when I talk to her,” (Rifaat, page 56). This is a fatherly thing to say. I want to talk with her in your presence, but I don’t want you to say a word. This kind of oppression is that just like a father scolding a child. It shows her how much he is in control of the affairs of what goes on in the house. “…he bent over her and with both hands gently patted her cheeks. It was a gesture that promised her continued security, that told her that this man who was her husband and the father of her child h...
