In Alice Munro's short story "Boys and Girls", we see the evidence of these specific gender roles with the main character of the story from her mother to be feminine and work indoors, although she prefers to be outdoors working with her father. In Alistair Macleod's short story "The Boat" there is similar gender pressures from the boy's mother to continue tradition by working on the family boat, and persists even after losing her daughters to the oppression. The boy in "The Boat, with the help of his father, is eventually able to achieve his own ambitions, however, the girl in "Boys and Girls" is unable to escape the pressure, and is transformed into what her mother, and society, expect of her; she is unable to realize the potential of her old dreams and is caught in the harsh web of expectations relating to gender which reflects on identity and sense of self. There are many external gender influences in the story that have quite a profound
Functionalist Murdock suggested as children we are socialised into societies shared norms and values and he believed that males provide the economic roles and females provided the expressive role. Therefore it is natural for women to play the expressive role in the household looking after the family’s emotional needs. However, radical feminist Ann Oakley argues that the role of the housewife is a social construction and isn’t linked to the female role. The housewife role makes sure that women stay inferior to men making it difficult for them have careers. Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour.
Women were supposed to follow the husbands command. We weren’t allowed to vote except in New Jersey. Women’s role was clear that they should focus on marriage and children. When Eliza’s father left her in charge of the plantation her neighbors were shocked (8). They were shocked that she was taking over this role because the women’s job was to simply take care their husbands and children.
During the novel Curley’s wife is often found wondering around the farm “looking for Curley”. Many of the guys on the farm think that she is looking for attention. They also think that she is a “tart.” Mean while all that Curley’s wife is trying to do is make some friends so that she is not alone on the farm. This shows how Curley’s wife is an example of how women were restless during this time period because they had not much to do, and most of the time they were alone. Curley is also very protective of his wife.
No, she does not have the best grammar, or word choice, but the influence of the poem stretches far beyond her dialect. Hughes portrays the speaker as a mother who is genuinely concerned about her son, and uses her experiences to hearten him. The speaker of the poem is offering her knowledge and wisdom to her son to guide him. Though it can only be assumed what the son is thinking, based upon the impact of the mothers words, the audience can assume he takes her words to heart. In the poem, the mother’s purpose is to advise her son to stay encouraged, and not let the burden of life stop him from living.
Save the turf’ this shows us how the Mundy sisters are trying to envelope the fact that they are not stable as in that society it was patriarchal and needed a man to run the household as Jack is unwell they are unable to rely on him so he is more of burden on them . We can get a sense of injustice within the sisters as they feel they are treated unwell by Kate. Kate who is the dominate sisters within the family she has taken on both roles of bread winner and the mother figure and leaving the sisters to be filling in the gap of the male roles. ‘Two unpaid servants’ Agnes who is voicing for not just herself but Rosie as well gives us the feeling that she is dominant with Rosie or even more of a mother figure to her . ‘Rose and I’ this gives us a feeling of partition between the sisters as Agnes and Rosie have created a unit, this gives the audience the image of love and desperation as the sisters are affected by their financial situation as well as their personal .
The Domestic Division of Labour refers to the roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Parsons (1995) argues that in a traditional nuclear family the roles of husband and wife are segregated, in his view the husband plays an instrumental role geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide financially, being the breadwinner. The woman has an expressive role geared towards primary socialisation of children and meeting the emotional needs. Parsons said that these roles made things ‘nice and functional’ for society. He also argued division of labour is based on biological differences between men and women, as women are naturally suited towards nurturing role and men to a powerful role.
Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities. Throughout the history, social norm restricts women’s power by only allow them to contribute to certain job tasks such as maid, cook, and house keeper. In the beginning of the story, Elizabeth’s father “refuses[s] to pay her school fees” since “his wife had finally birthed a son” directly supports the idea that men are more superior to women. Since education is one of the key elements that lead to better chances of having a job, the narrator eliminates this opportunity to contribute to Elizabeth’s misfortune. Furthermore, the narrator indicates “[i]t can be a hard place for a
From the vivid descriptions, it is known that the girl is physically strong, adventurous and enjoys working outside, as the text states: “Besides carrying water I helped my father when he cut the long grass, and the lamb’s quarter and flowering money-musk, that grew between the pens”(572), typical characteristics used to describe male characters. These gender roles are evident when the main character’s father said: “Like you to meet my new hired man”(573), and a salesman replies: “Could of fooled me, I thought it was only a girl”(573). The theme of Munro’s story clearly shows that men dominate in society and that is the way it has always been. The girl starts to realize she is not like the other girls when she is constantly criticized for what she thinks of as normal practice, like when she is told: “girls don’t slam doors like that” and “girls keep their knees together when they sit down”(575). Despite what she is told she continues to do this thinking: “by such measures I kept myself free”(575), by doing what isn’t thought of as normal for her to do, she will not fall into the mold that has been created
This is where the gender roles begin. The father displays a strong masculine presence among his family and is clearly the head of the household. This story exemplifies the stereotypical gender roles that have been present throughout history. Eveline chooses to accept the role as an inferior human being within her family. She was forced into the role of a mother due to the unfortunate death of her mother.