This highly Westernized situation is run by women; the clerk and the prosecutor are both women who have the power to diminish Kimathi's status, and Anele is the one who files the complaint against him. Women do not often occupy these positions of power and it is essential to ask why Mlhongo portrayed these characters in this way. The prosecutor appeals directly to Kimathi's status icons: “The court may order you to sell some of your assets, such as your cars, so that you can afford to pay. I don't think you want that to happen” (86). By threatening Kimathi's socioeconomic status, the prosecutor in turn threatens Kimathi's masculinity when he sarcastically adds, "We women always respect a man willing to sink" (87), jokingly insinuating that women collectively appreciate men who give in to women's requests. This moment strongly reflects Kimathi's defeat not only by the power of women (as further demonstrated by the power of Senami's ghost) but also by Western culture; Kimathi seems to find no hope in this Western institution of social welfare, nor in Western antibiotics or counseling therapy. Furthermore, this moment illustrates the mutually additive relationship between gender and status in Way Back Home, demonstrating that the way gender is represented is interconnected to the way status is represented in the film.