Gender Inequality In The Song 'She's A Lady'

This song was published by Paul Anka in 1971, and was a million-selling gold-certified hit song. It was performed by Tom Jones, and was his highest-charting single in the U.S. to date. Also his final Billboard Top Ten hit, hitting number one in Cash Box magazine for a week and spending one week at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although it was a relatively popular song back in the 70s, if this song is published now a day, it will probably be criticized strongly.

She’s a lady is a song that contains elements of gender inequality. We can obviously tell how women were viewed during that period. This song gave me a sense of showing off. I feel like the speaker is bragging to the others about how great his woman is. The way he addressed her as his belongings might made him sounds like a “man”. But after 30 years, value changes and this song sounds like an insult towards women, and would not be accepted by the public.

Surprisingly, back in the 70s they were intended to complement. The song title, She’s a lady is already a phrase that is disrespectful to women. A female and a lady are the same thing, why would the speaker addressed it this way? We can infer that from the lyrics. Based on the speaker’s view, not all the women are ladies, some doesn’t deserve to be called as lady. What makes the difference between them? By listening to the lyrics of the song, we understand what men expect “ladies” to do. A lady should be loyal, and knows how to please men. On top of that, the word lady itself is also a sexist word. No one says a girl has to be elegant to be called as a lady. The word lady itself is simply a respectful way of calling a woman. The public added their own meaning to