7. How does Kathy subvert gender stereotypes?

In Zeitoun, Eggers depicts Kathy as someone who subverts all kinds of gender stereotypes, including those associated with both American and with Muslim women. She is an equal partner in her household and her business. When she is challenged, she is neither submissive nor polite, cursing at a teenager who tries to pull off her hijab and shouting down a bureaucrat who refuses to give Zeitoun his wallet. She thinks critically about gender; although some Americans associate the hijab with oppression of women, she believes it actually imbues Muslim women with dignity.