Women and mothers—and specifically, the failures of both—are central to the events that have the most impact on the characters. From the outset, the Old Woman posits that Anowa’s struggles are due to the actions of her mother, Badua, who stacked the deck against her from the moment of her birth. Badua is frustrated that she cannot dissuade Anowa from marrying Kofi and leaving Yebi. At first, Anowa is concerned that she may not be able to bear children, but by the end of the play the void of her childless life consumes her and her husband. 

Beyond the actual physical act of giving birth, Anowa shows the primary duty of motherhood to be teaching a female child to act properly and normally. Therefore, when Anowa refuses to conform to her mother’s ideas of proper behavior, Badua sees herself as a failure. When Anowa is unable to conceive, she views herself as being both physically incapable and unworthy of doing so. In this way, because most women can conceive children, Anowa never has a chance to be normal. This causes her great distress because she believes that a woman’s primary purpose is to bear children.