Gender Inequality In F. Sionil Jose's 'Ermita'

Term Paper: Ermita by F. Sionil Jose

Introduction: Gender Inequality The practice of prostitution in society is to boost this kind of oppression - oppression of men. Oppression in the sense that men surpress women by dictating their actions, dictating their roles in the society - male being the strong and the influencial figure and women as the weak and submissive. In this novel, the dominance of men are shown in the society. Men abuse women and women accept their fate, that they are the slaves of men. But F. Sionil Jose’s great work of fiction, Ermita: A Filipino Novel twists the “common view to women” and shows that a prostitute has all the right in the world to be a protagonist and at the same time, turn the tables.

Social Inbalance The novel Ermita is set on the

We can relate this to the play that we had discussed ‘The Husband of Mrs. Cruz’ - a play which is wriiten on the post-war era, wherein just like Ermita, Mrs. Cruz is also referred to by her husband as a trophy wife, used as just a “thing or a property” used by her husband to gain power and win the elections. The novel also relates to “Sepang Loca” wherein a woman is abused by a man whose father has a political position. We can also relate this novel to the drama Sabina wherein men are being portrayed to be as a “girl collector”, even if they have their own wives. The novel depicts some of the images of women supporting the “cancer in the society” (prostitution). Women are seen to accept their fate in which the society dictates them to do. The novel also displays images of women as housewives, prostitutes and women with no political power - men are the expected or “main” members of the government and women are just stationary in their “common” roles such as being a housewife,