Analysis of Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway - Book Report/Review Example

The book contains different instances of inequality, which occur in marriage, family, economy, labor division, and sexuality among others (Holloway & Bidwell, 2007). Gender inequality and social stratification from an anthropological perspective This refers to the classification method that groups sexes differently and it views women to be unequal in power, resources that they own, prestige, and presumed worth. In this book, the author realizes the dissimilar issues of gender inequality during her stay in Mali.

There is gendered inequality in women whereby they face discernments in different areas thus lacking good opportunities to improve their status. Women face gender inequalities in health facilities while complying with their traditional role of childbearing hence seeking assistance from traditional birth entourages. This birth-giving method endangered Malian Manianka women as they stayed in labor pain for a very long period and the midwife had no painkillers to relieve the pain. Based on diminishing health facilities that assist women while giving birth, most of them suffered from genital ablation while still in their childhood stages.

The inequality that existed among the Malian Manianka women caused too many losses. This is because one in every twelve women died while giving birth and one in every fifteen children died at birth. The town also had rape instances, whereby Monique tells that her first sex experience was through rape (Holloway & Bidwell, 2007). The book illustrates a high rate of inequality in the marriages among people of Malian Manianka because women do not get married willingly and they lack satisfaction.

According to the author, women faced many problems generating from their communities. Women of this town had no permission to decide when to get married; instead, their parents forced them at a very young age. After getting married, women gave birth to many children, and they were banned from using contraceptives, which made Mali a very populated country in Africa. Marriages had gender violence mainly to those women that failed to accomplish their traditional role of childbearing. In this village, immediately after a woman gives birth, she only stays for a few hours and resumes to her normal roles.

This shows how men in Malian Manianka are not concerned with their marriages by not carrying on the women’s duties after birth to allow them to recover. There is inequality among families in this town because no one has permission to choose his/her preferred family; instead, the community chooses for them. Monique the midwife is an example of such a family whereby her marriage resulted from the cultural practice of choosing husbands. This resulted in infidelity in her marriage as Monique had an affair with Pascal the man that she loved in order to get satisfaction.

Francis' husband to Monique failed to meet his parental responsibilities by not providing his family with basic needs (Holloway & Bidwell, 2007). Instances of gender inequality in this book are also common to families. This is because most women in the book are unhappy in their marriages, but they cannot divorce their husbands. This is because they lack rights for child custody making them fear to lose their children. The Malian Manianka women face discrimination in their town whereby their parents force them into marriage at an early age.