Working Women In The 1930's Essay

Women cook and clean while men do the hard-working jobs and protect the family. These are common gender stereotypes we still hear from time to time though they don’t have much meaning anymore. These gender stereotypes were a reality throughout the 1930’s and How to Kill a Mockingbird such as where a woman should work and how a woman should dress. Women during the 30’s were expected to be doing housework and caring for their families such as from To Kill a Mockingbird Scout says “Boys don’t cook” I giggled at the thought of Jem in an apron (Lee 197).” The quote shows Scout was taught men aren’t supposed to cook and it’s even funny to think about a man cooking. Scouts words also show us women and men have different working roles during this time period. Another example from the article Working Women in the 1930’s is “Common arguments against married women working were that they were taking jobs away from men, that the woman’s place was in the home, and that

For example Scout states “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that require pants (Lee 198).” The quote shows us that Scout can’t even wear pants without being a judged because she's a girl. A women wearing pants is frowned upon on and considered unladylike which is shown throughout the book. In addition to this “In the 1930s, there began a movement toward a more the ladylike appearance. Budding, rounded busts and waistline curves were made apparent, and hair became softer and luscious as we continued to make improvements in the hair department.” The quote from the article reveals during the 30’s they were trying to fit women into the appearance of what society thought a lady should look like. If you didn’t follow and fit in people would look down on you such as Aunt Alexandra to