Gender Roles

Nectar in a Sieve presents gender roles in a very straight forward way. Women bear children and men work the fields to provide for the family. Though, this can go on beyond men and women. The firstborn of any family prepares to inherit the land of his father, so, he must work in the same area of expertise as his father: farming. However, we see that in Nectar in a Sieve the roles flip-flop for a short period of time. We see that, "With her earnings Irawaddy was able to buy rice and salt, and milk for [Kuti], who was too weak for anything else" (Markandaya 99). Ira supported her family during the drought from her earnings by selling herself. Granted, that may pose a very unmoral decision, but, a decision that she resolved to make. So, I think that gender roles present a very biased view on the woman. People should not view women as weak, dependent people, but rather as people who can contribute to society.