Gender and Power in Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites

The premise of Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites is familiar to us, the inhabitants of the 'Real World.' After all, the novel's title is a phonetic equivalent of 'equal rights,' and Eskarina Smith, the heroine of the narrative, goes through an entire novel seeking equality with men, both social and professional. What the novel affirms in the end is that the only thing that creates and upholds a boundary between the status of men and women in the society of magicians is the male-created 'lore.' In fact, however, women are not only equal, but also superior to men because they possess some inherent qualities and abilities that men are not able to possess.

The separation between the roles of men and women in the Discworld society are clearly established by Granny Weatherwax's description of male and female types of magic. She summarizes it when she announces that a man cannot be a witch and a woman cannot be a wizard. This categorization finds reflection in our own society at the beginning of an established women rights movement at the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century. Granny's conclusion is similar to anyone on the Real World living at those times saying that a man cannot be a midwife or a seamstress, and a woman cannot be a banker or a politician.

Granny explains her claim by pointing out the differences in male and female biological dispositions; apparently, women are more attuned with nature and the earthly magic of witchcraft, and are too unstable, both intellectually and emotionally, to learn the more scientific approach to magic practiced by men. Granny is herself a living proof of this because she shows her disdain for a written word by using books for toilet paper - apparently, this is the only practical application that she can find for them. Her Almanack is the only written publication she actually reads and only because it is a book containing practical information, such as geographical location of other towns and cities. Once again, similar claims were made in late 1800s and early 1900s in our world about women lacking intellectual capacity necessary for the study and application of high science or business, and not stable enough emotionally to maintain the properly levelheaded approach needed in politics and a number of other professions.

The bubble of these misconceptions bursts at the end of the novel, when Eskarina and Granny are the only people levelheaded enough to prevent the Disc-wide disaster caused by the wizards, particularly young Simon. Some may describe their actions as courageous, and considering our definition of courage, those readers would be right. However, in my opinion, what both women truly exhibit is the unshakable presence of mind that originates precisely in the earthly nature of their magic. Men, with their "all words, no action" concept of magic, cannot successfully face even such a small crisis as patching a roof in the dining hall of the Unseen University. They lean heavily on their "lore" to determine what is the appropriate action, and because they cannot come to an agreement on it, they end up not doing anything at all. Men, as represented by the wizards, lack the mental flexibility of women, as represented by witch Granny, and are completely constrained by the annals of their "lore." Men of our world are just as constrained by the laws they themselves create, and are often unable to do anything worthwhile because they spend all their time arguing about what is lawful. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the word 'lore' sounds like 'law,' especially if pronounced with a British accent.