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.