In Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, women possess power within the sphere of their home and family, otherwise known as the domestic sphere (the private sphere domestic life, raising children, housework and religious education). Over the course of their lives, ownership of power changes as women's roles shift from childhood and adolescence to that of wife and mother. This possession of power manifests as the ability to control one's own decisions in one's life and the lives of those around them once they enter the domestic sphere. The process of change that transforms Naseem Ghani into Reverend Mother and Mumtaz into Amina demonstrates how women gain or lose power in the Indian society described by Rushdie. Before her marriage to Aadam Aziz, Naseem Ghani was a young woman owned by her father and has little to no power in her childhood home because she was seen as an object to be traded as a wife in exchange for a dowry. Naseem is seen one side at a time through a hole in a sheet held by three female bodyguards. This objectification of Naseem by Aadam Aziz reveals that she is seen as the sum of her parts rather than as a complete person. Aziz's perception of Naseem is “a poorly adapted collage of his carefully inspected parts” that he glues together with his “imagination” (Rushdie 22). By presenting her under the patriarchal male gaze, Rushdie reveals how little power she has as a woman. unmarried woman in her father's family. Once Naseem Ghani becomes Naseem Aziz married, she is no longer objectified by her body and the amplification of her power is shown through her ability to control her situation in life to a greater extent when Aadam Aziz asks Naseem to "move a bit” on their second night together, she… middle of paper… is based on their desires rather than those of their male counterparts take on new names to represent their physical and emotional changes. Naseem gains power as a married woman and becomes Reverend Mother while Mumtaz gains power through the realization of her reproductive abilities. These women have varying degrees of power over their lives but it is limited to the value that Indian society places on the domestic sphere and the importance of women's place in this sphere. A married woman will earn more respect and have more say than an unmarried daughter living in her father's family, while motherhood is considered one of the most important roles for a woman and receives special considerations. Rushdie portrays the ascension to power within the realm of home and family to show how power is transferred between social boundaries.