Esteban’s opinion of his mother in law Nivea is the most primitive view of women in the book. He is clearly disgusted with her involvement in politics and women’s rights campaigns and expresses that she should take a more traditional and domestic role. "She would chain herself with other ladies to the gates of Congress and Supreme Court, setting off a degrading spectacle that made all their husbands look ridiculous. [...] Their duty is motherhood and the home. At the rate they're going, the next thing you know they’ll be asking to be deputies, judges- even president of the Republic. […] What these cases really need is a strong hand.”(66-67) In this quote Esteban is expressing his belief that what Nivea is doing is wrong and shameful. He also makes reference to another of his beliefs, that men are more superior and should take more control of the women, showing us the repression that the women in Chile suffered. Esteban’s opinion of Nivea gives us insight into the treatment of women in Chile in the past but it also shows us the women who were rebelling against their restrictions and stepping outside of the boundaries, giving hope to the women of the future.