Western Women s Roles And Roles - 1806 Words

Throughout time, western women’s roles have developed into a popular topic within politics that the people often use to gauge the all important morals and values of leaders. However, in the east, women’s roles have remained rather static and assume a slower, or perhaps unmoving, progression towards change. Eastern women are known to be the caretakers of the family and sacrifice their own personal desires for the good of their husband and children. On the other hand, western women are given more freedom and can make decisions for themselves. While these stereotypes may not apply to all women in the west or all women in the east, it is the assumed definition of the roles of western and eastern women. One character who portrays the qualities of an eastern woman is Sita, or the reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, from the Ramayana written by Valmiki and translated by R. K. Narayan. The other character who represents a typical western woman is Dido, the Queen of Carthage, from The Aeneid by Virgil. However, Dido does not remain a western woman throughout the story as she quickly adopts several eastern woman qualities. Virgil utilizes Sita’s character to model the qualities of the ideal eastern woman, while Valmiki molds Dido’s character to show the consequences of adopting qualities of the western woman. Both Dido and Sita enter their respective stories as women with high power. Dido is a queen married to King Sychaeus and Sita is born as a reincarnation of the goddessShow MoreRelatedThe Role of Women in Western Europe and Japan845 Words   |  3 PagesWomen in Western Europe and Japan compare and contrast religiously, politically, and economically. Religiously, women in Western Europe were better off with the advantage of becoming a nun than women in Japan were who lost their role in Buddhist and Shintu rituals. 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