Themes and message

Sexism

One of the main themes of Katherine Magyarody’s short story “Goldhawk” is sexism. The term refers to prejudice or discrimination based on sex, and it is particularly used to refer to discrimination against women. As a woman, Dinara has to deal with the sexist attitudes of her male co-workers.

Dinara works as a computer programmer, a profession which is generally seen as male-dominated, meaning that most employees are men.  This is the situation at the company where Dinara works, as she is the only female employee mentioned in the story. Her co-workers argue that her employment at the company is not based on merit but is rather meant to make the company look diverse and inclusive: “ ‘It’s because she’s a woman,’ Sergei muttered. ‘It looks good for the diversity profile’ ” (l. 11). This reflects a sexist attitude because Sergei doubts Dinara’s abilities, undermining her work and effort (ll. 8-9) and disregarding the fact that she has been employed at the company for 10 years (l. 2). It also suggests the men may feel threatened by her, as she works longer hours than anyone else and is evidently good at her job.

Dinara’s situation also draws attention to exclusion in the workplace based on sexist a...

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