The events in The House of the Spirits take place during a period of more than fifty years, from about 1920 to 1975. Allende sets her family saga against a backdrop of political change, in an occasionally violent era, but her novel also functions as an examination of women's lives during this period in Chile. In the early sections of the novel, both Nivea and Clara are involved in the suffragette movement. During this period, women were confined by traditional gender roles, with most women performing the work traditionally designated for women: marriage and family, or, if employed outside the home, teaching. The right for women to vote in all elections, an interest of both Nivea and Clara, was not granted to women until 1949, much later than in other Latin American countries. With regard to education, Chilean women have moved slowly toward greater access. Women have been admitted...