...In earlier centuries, it had been usual for women to work alongside husbands and brothers in the family business. As the 19th century progressed, men increasingly commuted to their factory, shop or office jobs. Wives, daughters, and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties in the reign of Queen Victoria. A woman's place was in the home, as domesticity and motherhood were considered by society at large to be a sufficient emotional and economic fulfillment for females. These constructs kept women far away from the public sphere in most ways, but during the 19th century charitable missions did begin to extend the female role of service, and Victorian feminism emerged as a potent political force. The transformation of Britain into an industrial nation due to the industrialization had profoundly influenced the ways in which women were to be believed ideally in Victoria times. Newly emerged urban jobs formed an urban living style that no one had lived before, it prompted a change in the ways in which appropriate male and female roles were perceived. In particular, the notion of separate spheres, which woman was in the private sphere of the home and hearth, man was in the public sphere of business, politics and sociability - came to influence the choices and experiences of all women. The Victorian era from 1837 to 1901 is characterized as the domestic age, idealized by Queen Victoria, who came to represent a sort of femininity that was centered on the family...
Words: 2027 - Pages: 9
...In this age, the Hong Kong society advocates the sexual equality. Thus, there are more and more married females going out to work. However, several problems have arisen as a result of this, which need to be addressed in order to maintain an integrated society. This essay will discuss the causes and effects of two of these problems and suggest possible solutions. One of the main issues regarding the phenomenon of married females going out to work is women afford an intensive lifestyle. Dex [1998] supports that women experience more inter-role conflict than men. In addition, Aryee and Luk (1996) found out that women tend to support family at the expense of work. It reveals that women are bearing more stresses from work and family. Consequently, women need to bear more stress than men and it might affect their standard of living. Besides having intensive life, another issue related to married females going out to work is that the companies’ efficiency maybe decreased. Kanter (1977) observes that work and family cannot be considered as separate entities. That means the unpleasant moods can spill over from work to family and vice versa. As the majority of the organizations not allow their employees to choose their own working schedule. If women need to take care of their work and family at the same time, they may feel hard and may cause conflicts with their colleagues, family members or even supervisors. From the above, we can see that there are inconvenient for married women to...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...century (or even a century before) society was deemed upon as a patriarchal dominance. (Male dominating society). Where husband/father would work and provide money for the family, whereas the wife/mother was seen as the nurturer or carer for everyone; especially for the children. Also doing domestic chores. However it is now possible to state, in the 21st century the roles have switched and women have become more independent in terms of finance; more women orientated, and more men as househusbands. The functionalist view of talking about the patriarchal family today is relevant, as they still deem upon how men and women portray the roles which were present from the 1950s era. Men would express the 'instrumental role' the position of a person who supports the family with finance and also known as the authority figure, whereas women would be stereotyped as the 'expressive role', and would stay at home and look after the children. The husband and wife would have segregated conjugal roles. Where they would have different roles and spend their leisure time separately. Conversely, Willmott and young would argue that this was not the case now in the 21st century; as men and women have switched roles; and therefore it is irrelevant to consider the family as patriarchal. The symmetrical family is evident in today's day and age as more women go to work; whilst many husbands stay home and look after the kids. Willmott and Young assessed the family with their leisure time spent together, and...
Words: 892 - Pages: 4
...procedure, they were able to determine that homicide in Sweden was four times more likely among married people as compared to unmarried people. What’s more, they found that 80% of the perpetrators in the spousal homicide cases had some type of mental disorder, clearly indicative of possible violence against their partner, and may not have been caught as a statistic if not for the collection of data for spousal homicide. Another procedure used in this study was a gender ratio statistic. What they found was that out of 276 spousal homicides between 1991 and 2010, 234 of those were committed by a man, as opposed to 42 by the female. This was a study in Quebec, they also did a companion statistic that found only 28% of the females who murdered their husbands had been previously abused in the relationship. That was a huge statistical find. Previously it was believed husbands who had been murdered was for abusing their wife. The study has numerous charts and graphs to help illustrate its point on spousal homicide, including co-residing and estranged couples, and ages most of the statistics one would try to think of when making a study on such a subject. By studying various decades...
Words: 730 - Pages: 3
...there were more negative then positive ways of how men used women between 1650 and 1750 in Northern New England. The true test of this book was based on the fact that their were no female diaries on record to date written until 1750; so doing a true evaluation on facts of the time required use of many different resources other than written materials. In my opinion, most of this book may be facts but a true portion of it is hearsay; however, Ulrich did write two other books on tops similar to this one so she has a reputation for being very knowledgeable on this subject. The one and only positive way men (husbands) used women (wives) were as Deputy Husbands. A Deputy Husband would stand in the place of her husband in his absence or if he were unable to perform his duties. “Some wives were servile, some were shrews, others were respected companions who shared the authority of their spouses in the management of family affairs” (p. 38). In performing her husband’s duties, a wife not only gained the respect of her husband, but she also gained his trust as well. As a consort (“a consort tuned her life to her mate’s” (p. 9)), a wife who harmonized with her husband had spirituality and sexuality but one who did not brought unrest and sometimes wound up in the courts due to their actions. Husbands respected their wives’ domain as the center or the heart of the farm and the family, whereas, the wives were expected to respect the husband’s authority and manly duties. Another...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
...Though, there are times where she speaks little or not at all, Katherine is a strong female character that voiced out opinions unlike most of her other counterpart female characters. Shirley Nelson Garner examines the way in which Kate was “tamed” and silenced throughout the play by her husband Petruchio. She first states that as a woman herself she is unable to find the play comedic and cannot put herself in the Elizabethan setting because of how the play is directed towards men and their desire to manipulate women by taming them. She also stated that many of her female graduate students were flabbergasted at how the play conducted the mistreatment of Kate. Garner then begins to examine the Induction in which a Lord plays a trick on a drunkard. The Lord puts on a façade with his servants to make the drunkard, Christopher Sly, believe he is of noble nature and present him with a wife so utterly beautiful that only comparisons of Greek tales will do. Garner believe this shows an underlying male fantasy of beauty and though that may be true, we also believe it shows how...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...Ashlee trail ‘How does Shakespeare present aspects of love within the passage’ 4.3 beginning to L04’ The play Othello is was set in a rather patriarchal society and the traditional woman was known to obey her husband regardless, it was simple principle as men are known to be superior within the relationship while women are inferior, within the passage we can see both female protagonist abiding by this principle, ‘And hath commanded me to go bed and dismiss you’, the noun ‘command’ is an authority. Othello is ordering Desdemona and she lawfully obeys even thou its rather perplexing to dismiss a lady’s maid hence as to why ‘dismiss me’ is repeated twice to exaggerate the confusion and to build up suspense within the audience, in addition to the dramatic irony is being portrayed here as well as the audience understands as to why Othello is making such drastic orders. On the other hand, the language that Othello use’s starts to become disrespectful; we can see within the play how infuriated the character actually is, for instance the character refers to Emilia as Desdemona’s ‘attendant’ Emilia does not even get the respect of being called by her name which portrays that she’s only Desdemona’s help and it devalues the relationship between the woman. Moreover even though Desdemona is petrified, as it’s abnormal for her to be sent to bed and even her maid dismissed; she still abides obediently by Othello ‘We must now not displease him’, ‘we’ is a personal pronoun and Desdemona’s...
Words: 1070 - Pages: 5
...rights. The black population fought to be freed from slavery. Today everyone is free and everyone has equal rights, but even today in 2011 after women have the same authority as men, some men still see women as their property. Some men still think the female is meant to stay home, Cook, clean, and take care of the children and her husband. Many females with a low education tend to follow their husbands commands. These circumstances are shown to us In The Story Of An Hour, by Kate Chopin, she explains in her short story how men and women observed life. Men were responsible of certain things and women were responsible of certain duties as well. This was normal for a typical matrimony in the late 1800’s. In this short story the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, lives with her husband, Mr. Mallard, in a rural setting. There has been a railroad disaster in which people think Mrs. Mallard husband was involved and died. Kate’s sister Josephine does not know how to tell her sister about the incident since Louise suffers from heart problems. Once Louise finds out about the incident, her first reaction is to cry and run to her room. Kate Chopin uses positive description to describe the room. Even though she had just gotten the news of her husband passing away, we can see all the positive things that Louise observes outside her open window. This shows that she is sad since she is crying, but at the same time it’s the readers first indication that she feels a sense of Freedom now to observe anything...
Words: 834 - Pages: 4
...1 WOMEN IN MANU Manu and Manusmrti are the two words that invoke mixed feelings. There are some who would like to perform the funeral rite for the man and his work as many times as possible, while other would like to make it the centre of Hindutva, relying point on matters of religious, social and legal importance. The rise of Dalit movements in India has one important point to make: remove everything that is related to Manu. Its consequences we have been watching with concern for the last few years as they have disturbed the very foundation of social, religious and political life of the Hindu orthodoxy. Women's voice of protest has not been so loud, nor their organizations that political clout, though, as we shall see, they have much to complain about for their present state of affairs which has been sustained mainly by the laws of Manu. Manu and Manusmrti If mere mention of the name is the criteria to place a man in his historical context then Manu may be a mythical/historical person. He is mentioned in the Vedas itself and is described as the law-giver (1). The later commentators and law-givers such as Yaska (2), Baudhayana (3), Apastamha (4), Samkara (5), often quote him and his works. There is no doubt about the antiquity of the name, but we do not know the time of the man who was really the author of the work. Manusmrti has been placed between 200BC - 200 AD by the scholars, rather a very long time for a person to exist in his earthly life. However this time in the history...
Words: 7444 - Pages: 30
...scorn of women. However I feel that Rather than directly criticize the institutions of love and marriage, Carol Anne Duffy is criticizing the moral foundations upon which these institutions are based in our modern society. This critique of modern “marital ethics” appears to play a central role in all her poems in the way that the flaws of love and marriage are portrayed from a feminist perspective. In Mrs. Beast Duffy is attacking the way that males and females are conditioned into thinking that love and marriage are a battleground for the masculine and feminine ego’s.Mrs Beast is the ideal example of how dominance (male or female) is the main focus of many marriages.Mrs Beast believes that it is only by completely domineering her husband and taking the role traditionally seen as that of the man can she break the stereotype of “the dominant male” and be successful in her marriage. Duffy shows Mrs. Beasts dominance through her use of brutish vulgar and monosyllabic language, “tough as fuck” and the way she treats her husband almost as an enslaved gigolo, “better-didn’t try to conceal his erection,size of a mule’s-best.”Mrs. Beast feels the only way she can avenge all the innocent women,”Eve.Ashputtel.Marilyn Monroe.Rapunzel.Bessie Smith. Bluebeard’s wives, Henry VIII’s, Snow White” from history and literature, who...
Words: 1406 - Pages: 6
...socially stagnant post-war United States of the early 1950's, Mary Maloney is content with the routine she has established for herself as a homemaker. She spends each day anticipating the return of her husband, police officer Patrick Maloney. In this waiting period, she tidies up his house, prepares his food, and periodically glances at the clock until he arrives. For Mary Maloney, her husband's return is "always the most blissful time of day" (Dahl 24). Patrick's presence completes Mary, in that she is dependent on him both economically and emotionally. In Roald Dahl's 1951 short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter," Mary Maloney comes to embody a feminist heroine by escaping her husband's oppression. Her behavior in the beginning of the story is docile and therefore socially acceptable; she is the willing and conscientious housewife that all women should be. She has no choice in the matter, for "the Western family structure helps to subordinate women, causing them to be economically dependent" (Bressler 186). As soon as her husband Patrick reveals that he is leaving her, Mary's whole character changes. She murders her husband, who has provided her with the security she has come to take for granted. The cultural, linguistic, and bodily elements that differentiate the female from the male are apparent in "Lamb to the Slaughter," therefore marking it as a highly subversive feminist text. It is obvious that Mary's feminist awakening has cultural implications...
Words: 1915 - Pages: 8
...Celton Brito-Lobato Analyse and compare how Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife are presented Shakespeare’s ' Macbeth' and Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ In the Shakespearean play of ‘Macbeth’ we are introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth. Similarly in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice of Men we also presented with an equally diverse character of Curley's wife. ‘Macbeth’ was written during the early 17th century, and was a play 'fit for a king'. It outlines a couple's ambition to become rulers of Scotland and sees them fulfil this ambition and in doing so, killing the king in the process. Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, Lady Macbeth is a female protagonist. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, in the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife is flirtatious, mischievous (despite the patriarchal society of the 1930’s) but most of all she is an isolated character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape her own spiral of disappointment of not fulfilling her ambition of becoming an actress. This ironically is a main theme in both texts. This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves...
Words: 2335 - Pages: 10
...in his time, Shakespeare wrote passionate and vital roles for women as well. The two main female characters that play an important role are Desdemona and Emilia. They play a pivotal role because they reveal Shakespeare’s views on women and marriage, such as women being portrayed as a possession and as submissive. As depicted in the play, Desdemona is a young and beautiful Venetian women. She goes against the traditional Venetian custom by marrying an outsider instead of one of the rich Venetian man she is expected to marry. This unruly outsider is a black man by the name of Othello. In the beginning of the play, Desdemona was a strong woman who defied traditional beliefs, but as the story continues, her strength is weakened, and her relationship with her husband falls apart. This is due to the fact that a man named Iago told lies to Othello about Desdemona’s faithfulness simply because he wanted to ruin their marriage. Othello is insecure about being an outsider and chooses to believe Iago's report that Desdemona is cheating on him rather than believe his wife is faithful, and her independence slowly shifts over to obedience. Othello clarifies that Desdemona is wedding him since he is brave, and she adores his stories and way of life. Othello is a solid, prevalent, and all around regarded officer. At the point when addressed by her dad about her spouse she states, "But here's my husband, and so much duty as my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father so much I challenge...
Words: 1149 - Pages: 5
...first child although Mrs. Givings is having trouble providing milk for her baby. And there’s the Daldrys, where Mrs. Daldry is a new patient of Dr. Givings, who specializes in treating “hysteria” in his patients by inducing orgasms with the newly invented vibrator. In the very beginning of the play, both marriages appear to follow the idea of institutional marriage with the clear separation of male and female spheres to meet the needs of the society and the strictly defined gender roles it imposes on men and women during the time period. Dr. Givings, only cares about his sciences and job and he expects his wife, as she does, to only care about being a mother and housewife (economic production and childrearing). Further, both wives are obedient of their husbands’ demands (I recall in one scene when Mr. Daldry simply told Mrs. Daldry to “be a good girl and go to the room”, as a father would to his daughter). Like Coontz said, it seems that the idea of romantic love and lust within marriage was considered foolish and uncommon. Consequently, the rigid separation between male and female spheres made it hard for couples to share their thoughts, making emotional intimacy almost impossible. Oblivious to his wife’s emotional distress from not being able to feed her own baby, the stoic Dr. Givings is only interested in sciences; instead of comforting her, he becomes practical. However later on in Act I, there seems to be a difference between the two marriages. The Givings shares an intimate...
Words: 750 - Pages: 3
...confined in a space in which their roles and duties are limited to men and specifically, their husbands. These beliefs are portrayed through the two protagonists, Lucy Waterna and Mina Harker as they live their lives according to assigned gender roles. The novel Dracula demonstrates socially constructed terms that decrease the value of women compared to men through Mina’s submissiveness to her husband, Lisa’s desires as a wife, and the ideology that only true women are pure. Mina writes a letter to Lucy, in which she says, “I want to keep up with Jonathan’s studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously. When we are married I will be able to be useful to Jonathan” (Stoker 79). In this context, Mina finds it necessary to learn a complex method of writing with abbreviations and symbols so she can...
Words: 1201 - Pages: 5
