Gender Bias in Cinema: Women's Dependence on Men

Throughout time, women in movies and other similar texts are shown to be generally focused on men. This might make sense if every movie ever made was set in a time where women had absolutely no rights but of course, that is not the case. Older and more modern depictions of women in media, both show women whose lives revolve around men. Even movies that market their female characters as strong and powerful are still shown to be dependent on the male leads and puts them first. Also, since women in movies have more of a focus on men, female to female relationships suffer in the same films. There are very few exceptions to this unfortunate truth.

One of the most noticeable and famous part of the 1936 play, The Women, is the fact there are no

male actors in it at all. This might make those who have not seen or read the play to assume that the focus of this story would be the women, but they would be incorrect. While no men are physically present in the play, they still remain the focus of the plot. The main character, Mary, spends most of Act 1 worrying about her husband and spends Act 2 wondering if he wants her back. The women also define themselves based on the state of their marriages and their husbands’ happiness. Even though some of the women’s husbands are cheating on them, such as Sylvia’s husband, they consider their marriages to be successful. It is successful because they are allowing their husbands to be free and do what they want, which makes them happy, which in turn makes the wives believe they too are happy. Mary is different than these wives because she believes that a happy, successful marriage is based on mutual love. This belief is ridiculed by some of the other women such as Mary’s mother, Mrs. Morehead. Mrs. Morehead advises Mary to say nothing and to ignore her husband’s affair to preserve her marriage. This implies that a man’s happiness has a higher priority than a woman’s happiness. Another way this implication is shown is when Mary and Peggy are questioned about why they are getting their divorces when they both don’t want them, they both say they have their pride. While pride is not the best quality, it still shows these women attempting to stand up for themselves which is a step in the right direction. Also, in this case it seems as though they are experiencing self-respect rather than pride. Mary and Peggy both believe they deserve more respect than they are receiving from their husbands. By the end however, both women take back their husbands and announce that they have no more pride. This basically means they are giving up their self-respect for men.
Since the characters in The Women are so focused on the men in their lives, they have little space to care about their fellow women. They are constantly taking digs at each other, starting in the very first scene Sylvia comments several times about how poor Peggy’s husband is and how Nancy makes no money as an author. In the same scene, Sylvia and Edith gossip about Mary’s husband cheating her. Sylvia is the perfect example of how some of the women in this play are so caught up in trying to prove that their husband is better that they will completely ignore the feelings of women they claim is their friend. Sylvia goes on to recommend the manicurist, who is spreading the rumors about Mary’s husband, to Mary instead of telling her or trying to keep it from her, both of which would have most likely been nicer things to do. Sylvia’s desire to make sure Mary finds out how terrible her husband is shows how twisted women can become when men become the focus of their lives.