Disscuss on the theme of womanhood in The God Of Small Things.

All the characters in The God of Small Things are trapped within a rigidly predetermined social niche, but the female characters seem to suffer twice the plight since their gender functions as a second handcuff in addition to social class. While the female characters are portrayed as resourceful, smart, and capable of social change, they never fully mature to be strong matriarchs or “agents of social change” as Sen might call them because of the rigid social structure that deprives them of every promising opportunity. Even though Rahel, Ammu, and Mammachi belong to an affluent property-owning class in Ayemenem, they are still deprived of fully realizing their capabilities. The Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, argues that such cases mark the difference between focusing on women’s “well-being”, i.e. passive recipients of welfare, as opposed to their “agency”, i.e. active participants in society [4]. According to Sen, it is the active role of an “agent” of social change that eventually leads to women’s enjoyment of the broader concepts associated with “well-being” not vice versa. Studies have shown that women are fully capable of playing prominent political, social, and economic roles in their communities leading to holistic development outcomes that eventually benefit all members of society. Please see below site-link for this excerpt.