Representation of Women in "Men Should Weep" by Ena Lamont Stewart and "Perfect Days" by Liz Lochead
Both plays portray women as very independent people. In “Men Should
Weep”, Maggie is the main female character. She is a housewife living
in a male dominated society. The main theme of the play is her journey
form oppressed housewife to self-empowered women.
Whereas in “Perfect Days” Barbs the main female character is an
extremely independent woman from the start and has worked hard to earn
herself her own hairdressers.
Maggie’s husband John is a very self-centred character; he doesn’t
have a job or any notion to ever help around the house. Yet he thinks
that is perfectly acceptable. Due to the way society was in that day
and age then it said that once a woman wedded they automatically
became their husband’s property. This meant that they had no choice
but to obey their husbands every demand. What they said went.
“I’d an idea a wis heid o this hoose”
This demonstrates that even though John doesn’t contribute to the
family he still feels he is superior to them all. Maggie takes this
though she doesn’t argue with him as she believes that he is head of
the household and she constantly stands up for him.
Lily, Maggie’s independent single sister is very much against men she
thinks ‘there aw dirty beasts’. As she argues with Maggie about John
but Maggie straight away stands up for her husband.
“You leave John alane! He does his best for us”
Even though Maggie knows John doesn’t do anything for her and her
children she still stands strongly by her husband as that was the
right thing to do.
Not only does Maggie have her husband to run around after her and look
after her, but she also has five children.
“If you’ve got wee ans, you’ve got tae put up wi the fella that gie’d
ya them”
The women in the play are constantly making excuses for the men and
their behaviour. Maggie is particularly bad at doing this. This is a
prime example of this behaviour as Mrs Bone her neighbour gets
domestically abused and this is Maggie’s attempt to offer her support.
As the play progresses Maggie gradually starts to see sense and comes
to realise how weak men really are.
“They canna staun up tae things like a wummen”
This shows female strength and is the start of a major turning point
for Maggie as she becomes more and more disenchanted with her life.
Jenny, Maggie’s eldest daughter runs of at the beginning of the play
but returns at the end with money and the opportunity for Maggie and
In the stories “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, you see two different ways that women are seen and the different times that they are living in. For example in one story we have a college student who comes back home for the first time and has a different outlook on life now. In the other story we have an older lady who is willing to endure whatever to make sure that her loved one is taken care of. Even though these two stories are very different in the way the roles of women are seen, they show how women roles in society are seen from the past and present and how something have changed but are still the same.
Women in America have been described as “domestic household slaves” referring to their status in society. Do the documents support this assertion? If so what is the evidence?
Men and Women in The Withered Arm and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy and Men and Women in Turned by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The contentious little book titled Women, Power, Politics maintains politics to be devalued, acknowledging the fact that only few people do vote, and women are unable to achieve within the realm of Canadian politics. Sylvia Bashevkin, the author of the book argues that Canadians have a profound unease with women in positions of political authority, what she calls the "women plus power equals discomfort" equation. She evaluates a range of barriers faced by women who enter politics, including the media's biased role of representing the private lives of women in politics, and she wonders why citizens find politics is underrepresented in Canada compared to Belgium. In clear, accessible terms, Bashevkin explains her ideas on how to eliminate “low voters turn-out,” “devaluation of politics,” "gender schemas," and "media framing.” She outlines some compelling solutions to address the stalemate facing women in Canadian politics which are; contesting media portrayals, changing the rule of the game, improving legislative quotas, electoral reform, movement renewals, and so on. This response paper would addresses the reality of a political mainstream, actions which should be taken against the oppressive elements of reality, and the awareness it brings through economic, social, and political environment.
Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers of children. Only with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension comes from men, society, in general, and within a woman herself. Two interesting short stories, “The Yellow Wall-paper" and “The Story of an Hour," focus on a woman’s fix near the turn of the 19th century. This era is especially interesting
Women have played an important role in American literature. Unfortunately, this role was often negative, without cause to be so. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby are examples of American literature in which women are needlessly vilified.
Today, women are not typically seen in higher levels of position in the work force than men. In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, she uses her own experience to convey why it is not possible for a woman to work in a higher position, due to women being more emotional than men. People still believe it’s a women’s place to stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the children, while the men go to work to pay the bills. And it’s considered odd if the man is a stay at home father and the woman is working 24/7 and is never home. Even though it is rewarding to be able to always be there to see your child’s milestones in their life. It is always nice to get away from that life for even a moment. I don’t mean going out with the girls or guys, while you hire a babysitter, but helping your husband or wife pay the bills, so you have two rather than one income coming in at the end of the month. In Richard Dorment’s article, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” he states that both men and women can’t have it all. I agree with both Slaughter and Dorment, but not entirely. I believe if you want to be a good
The three sources I have selected are all based on females. They are all of change and transformation. Two of my selections, "The Friday Everything Changed" by Anne Hart, and "Women and World War II " By Dr. Sharon, are about women’s rites of passage. The third choice, "The sun is Burning Gases (Loss of a Good Friend)" by Cathleen McFarland is about a girl growing up.
Moglen, Helen. "The Creation of a Feminist Myth." Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: W.W. Norton, 1987. 484-491. Print.
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print. The. Bailey, Carol. "
Works like “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady and “Ain’t I a Woman” by Sojourner Truth all have the elements of
Toni Morrison and Alice Walker both have written a lot about the women-women relationship. Most of the protagonists of their novels are let down by their respective patriarchal societies, they are told that they are secondary and sub-standard which brings them closer to the women
What I have discussed are two women authors that have faced trials in their lifetimes pertaining to feminism that society had forced upon them. We are given insight into the ways and values of their time and how these experiences influenced their writings. In conclusion, we can see how societal issues concerning the roles of women have differed in principles, but remain the same in the way that there is an unbroken tradition regarding how men and women differ in their roles as well as their perceived rights. Female writers and advocates of women’s rights show these influences with Mary Wollstonecraft using her strong personality and direct writings and Virginia Woolf using her narratives, and both giving us insight to the struggles of an ongoing debate.
Feminism has made a major change in not just women’s lives but in the world. Throughout the world, women have always been considered “second class citizens” yet as the years have passed, proven facts show that women are capable of working just as good as men and even do more duties at the same time. In the early centuries most women weren’t able to get any type of credit without a male cosigner and in certain countries their husbands had complete control not only for their property but for their earnings as well. Men created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man. Women