We see gender inequality everywhere, even in well developed nations and countries, and it influences the way we live today. It affects families, women’s opportunities for jobs, and their perceived attitude in society. In three pieces of literature, including the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and a documentary called American Denial there is emphasis on all of these outcomes of gender inequality in the world.
The typical American family consists of a mom, dad, and children; however, this can be altered with the influence of gender roles. The father is usually the head of the house and does things the way that he wants, despite the fact that it can affect the mother negatively.
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Girls aren’t expected to take the same jobs as men, sometimes their families might discourage or be surprised by their occupational dream. For example, in times like after World War II, women being doctors were neglected of their dream to help others, while men were more acknowledged for being doctors. We can see this situation occurring in the play A Raisin in the Sun, where the family of both men and women find out that Beneatha wants to become a doctor. Walter, Beneatha’s brother, is talking when Beneatha finishes his sentence, implying that she knows what isn’t expected for a women to be. Walter says, “I’m interested in you. Something wrong with that? Ain’t many girls who decide--” and they together finish by saying, “-- to be a doctor.”(Hansberry 36) Another example where gender affects jobs occurs in the play is when Ruth, Walter’s wife, returns from a doctor’s appointment and tells Lena, the head of the house and mother of Walter and Beneatha, that she met with a female doctor. Lena says, “ ‘She’ -- What doctor you went to?”(Hansberry 59) Seconds after Ruth mentions that she went to a doctor who wasn’t male, Lena was immediately suspicious and alarmed by this information. In the past, gender set many standards including what job the society expects you to take, not only the men judge but other women too. It’s just the world they grew up in; however, some of that negative …show more content…
During the Great Depression and times before that, women were supposed to act elegantly and carefully about everything, rarely were they suppose to go outside and run in the dirt. At an early age, young girls were granted some space to breathe up until the woman of the family decided it was time to grow up, like so in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The young girl, Scout, was living her life of fun with her brother, Jem, running outside and rolling in tires around the area, up until their Aunt Alexandra came to live with them and her brother started to grow up. One time, Jem got annoyed at Scout and yelled, “It’s time you start bein’ a girl and acting right.”(Lee 153) Later, when Aunt Alexandra came to live with them for a while, some of the first things she said were, “We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years before, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys--”(Lee 170). We can all see now that both sexes, male and female, at all ages know the basic ways of how women are ‘suppose’ to act, even though they might not want to. Scout, and other young girls, most likely, don’t want to grow up; young people deserve to have fun while they still have their young minds and bodies. The problem for how women are expected to act, and how they are
The setting of “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is during the 1930s, a period where women, relegated to the household,
Throughout the book, readers are able to see Scout as being a tomboyish, little girl. For example, Aunt Alexandra does not approve of the way that Scout has been dressing. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subjects of my attire… She said I wasn’t suppose to be doing things that required pants” (108). Aunt Alexandra seems to feel that a girl Scout’s age should not be wearing pants and overalls, but she should be wearing a dress. Aunt Alexandra also thinks that Scout should be staying inside doing woman like activities instead of playing outside with her brother and Dill. Someone else who thinks that Scout is tomboyish is Mrs. Dubose. “And you… what are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole young lady” (135). Even though Mrs. Dubose grew up in a different time period, she still thinks that Scou...
While the women in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird come in a variety of personalities and backgrounds, all of their lives are led by one constricting factor; their gender. Scout's upbringing as a young woman greatly contrasts that of her brother Jem. Jem is educated as a young boy growing into a man while Scout’s journey is taken as a woman. The manacle of womanhood is but a concept if one does not consider the harsh faults and inhibiting limits of men or rather the struggle for “masculinity” that men are similarly constrained. Though she is repeatedly told to have ladylike manners and to dress in more feminine way, Scout mostly denies this norm but is still able to become a young
The role of females in mainstream culture has grown significantly from the conservative and restricted characters of women in early nineteenth century media. Coupled with the influx of women into once male dominated fields such as medicine, the image of female success has continued to develop and become more prominent to this day. In modern day society however, several stereotypes surrounding both males and females within the medical field are still present in popular culture. In media concerned with the medical field such as television and cinematic works, the conventional image of a white, male surgeon along with his cast of female nurses and male physicians is seen often. Grey’s Anatomy
Beneatha wants women to have the same rights and the same expectations that men have. In the setting of A Raisin in the Sun, women are not expected to go to medical school and to become a doctor. If anything, they are “supposed to” become a nurse, or be a stay-at-home mom. Beneatha’s dreams to be a doctor often contradict what other people expect her to do with her life, but she doesn’t care what they say. She identifies as an anti-assimilationist, showed in A Raisin in the Sun when she says, “(Wheeling, passionately, sharply) I am not an assimilationist!”. She is accused of being an assimilationist by Asagai and passionately denies it. She thinks that being an African-American assimilationist would be an insult to her culture and thinks that African Americans should embrace their native culture. Her position on this matter often get in the way of her relationships with other people. This is shown in A Raisin in the Sun when George says “Oh dear, dear, dear! Here we go! A lecture on the African past! On our Great West African Heritage! In one second we will hear all about the great Ashanti sculpture of Bénin - and then some poetry in the Bantu - and the whole monologue will end with the word heritage! Let’s face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!”. George wants Beneatha to leave behind her heritage and embrace what Americans are doing. He wants her to abandon her family history and be an assimilationist. Beneatha is willing to fight against this mindset and this shows that she is willing to fight for what is right. Beneatha would much rather prefer to embrace her heritage and be proud that she is African rather than submit herself to American culture and leave behind her
Harper Lee wants the readers to consider how gender roles affect societal roles and how the lives of men and women are drastically different during the novel’s time period. Women now have many more opportunities than they did in the 1930s, yet it is still sad to see very few women working in the higher level positions in larger companies today. However, this is a great improvement when compared to a society where women rarely worked outside of the house. Hopefully, this gap between men and women will continue to shrink at a much more rapid rate in the near
The Southern women were told and obligated, by some code of southern conduct, to mature into fair-smelling, perfect "ladies." By "ladies" they meant women who were well mannered, good at embroidery, and wore frilly, lacy dresses. One example of this southern tradition occurs when Aunt Alexandra comes to the Finch residence to help Atticus raise his children during the trial. When first arriving she says to Scout, "We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won't be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys." This comment implies that the only subjects girls are expected to understand are boys and clothes. Aunt Alexandra makes no mention of Jean Louise's intelligence, education, or personality. Her diction suggests that the only thing Jean Louise is capable of pursuing is her attire and a man. Scout discovers what a "southern lady" is as she notices how Aunt Alexandra "chose protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra's was once an hour-glass figure." Scout was considered to be very improper, wearing overalls and pants, but Aunt Alexandra would still try and introduce her to other ladies. I assume that she did this to try and influence Scout. She hoped Scout would form lady-like habits by watching others. Another example takes place after the trial, when Jem is appalled at the decision the court makes in response to Tom Robinson's case.
Prior to the feminist movement of the 1960s, women had to follow strict gender roles. Scout is a prime example of a female child struggling to fit these roles placed upon her by not only males in society, but women too. The moment Aunt Alexandra enters Maycomb, she places it upon herself to mould young Scout and Jem into their societal roles. Scout especially suffers a great deal of criticism and pressure from her Aunt to be the stereotypical girl;
In most countries, women only earn between 60 and 75% of men’s wages, for the same work. Sexism is still a problem in today’s society, but it has improved since Scout’s generation in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Scout believes from an early age that girls aren’t good, and that she can avoid the judgement that comes with being a girl by not acting like one. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what she's born with and more a matter of what she does. Scout’s elders influence her perception of womanhood by putting preconceived sexist views in her head.
Gender roles in society have greatly changed throughout the years of America. From puritan women who thought that showing skin was undoubtedly a sin, to the flapper era in American history that welcomed the idea of women showing more of their sexuality. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which depicts the events that occur when a white man defends an African American man during the era of the Great Depression and what results from the story. Gender roles are a prevalent theme in the story. Through the characters dialogue and Scout's narration, Miss Maudie is characterized as a modern women while aunt Alexandra is characterized by her adherence to tradition.
Up until recently, the definition of what a man or a woman should be has been defined, with boundaries, by society; males should be strong, dominant figures and in the workplace providing for their families while females should be weak and submissive, dealing with cleaning, cooking and children. Any veering away from these definitions would have disrupted the balance of culture completely. A man playing housewife is absurd, and a woman being the sole provider for the family is bizarre. In Alice Munro’s short story “Boys and Girls” and Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh”, conflict arises when expectations based on gender are not fulfilled by the characters. According to “Boys and Girls”, there are certain things women should not be doing as defined by their gender.
One huge social issues explored by the play “A Raisin in the Sun” would be racism. The Young family individuals all hold jobs, but none pay like the jobs of whites. Their pay was justified by their skin color and education level. Some African Americans were limited on their education level, some had no history of it. Although African Americans were seen to not having high paying jobs and especially women, the character Beneatha strives to go
Sexism is not as common a topic in comparison to racism, but does play a role in the development of the novel. This type of discrimination is expressed towards women from men and women alike. Men feel compelled to protect women from unsightly things, (Lee 221), and the women in Maycomb have the mind set that, to be a lady, they must conform to society's expectations of them. They believe they must dress, act, and speak a certain way to appease the community. Aunt Alexandra is a big believer in acting the way society expects her to and attempts to impose these values on her niece, Scout, who becomes mortified, as she has always been a tomboy and prefers spending time in the dirt. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my [Scout's] attire. She said I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed ...
Even though many social forces impact Scout in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, gender impacts Scout the greatest. It affects her in how other people treat her. Unexpectedly, Aunt Alexandra shows up at the Finch household, and Scout asks why she had just shown up. Aunt Alexandra replies, “We decided that it would be good for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys” (127). After Alexandra says this, Scout becomes puzzled because she does not think she needs a “feminine influence”. But, as she becomes older she is expected to act more lady like. Since she is a girl, she is expected to act prim and proper. Her being raised around men is acting against these stereotypes. Certainly, it is obvious that boys are more daring than girls. So while Jem and Dill want to get a sneak peak inside of Boo Radley’s house, Scout gets a little apprehensive. Jem shouts out, “Scout I’m telling you for the last time shut your trap or go home. I declare to the lord you’re getting more like a girl every day,” (51-52). After Jem said this, she decides she has no option but to join them. She does...
The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.