Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
~ 119 ~
She is overwhelmed by a terrible sense of
wrongness, of jarring
inconsistency.
There was
that surging, powerful feeling in the hall
(when she went to hear a prominent feminist
speak), and now, stranded on the linoleum
under the battery of fluorescent kitchen lights,
there is this terrible sense of isolation, of walls
closing in, of being trapped…
She has begun to think about the necessity of
financial independence… About a job, part-
time now, full-time later. If she has money of
her own, she has begun to ask questions about
separate bank accounts ...
But most likely she will not divorce. At least
not casually, and certainly not for any
principle or idea. Moreover, she like, or loves,
her children, and though they are often a
terrible drain on her emotions and strength,
she is simply not prepared to delegate most of
their care to someone else. She also likes, or
loves, her husband, and though she is no
longer willing to put up with anything she
considers an infringement on her rights or
