Premium Essay

Housewives and Heroes: the Story of Gender Inequality

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Since the beginning of time, gender roles have been a topic brought up in arguments. Women in Of Mice and Men are treated like property. This shows how much women were disrespected and misunderstood. The roles of what women are expected to do in their jobs and in society were not the same as men. Everything from how they were treated in the workplace to how they were expected to act and look was just completely different. A woman’s life seemed to be just more difficult than a man's life. A woman's life and a man’s life in the 1930’s was very stereotypical and very different. Around this time, women were expected to play the role of being a housewife. Woman had goals and dreams, but they couldn't be accomplished because they had to stay home. The evolution of gender roles over the past century have changed enormously. Around the 1930’s/1940 or the Great Depression, when Of Mice and Men takes place women's rights were very slim.Women had very different behavioral expectancies than their men counterparts. While most men went to work, the women stayed home which was not much different than before. However, women often felt as though their role in the home had been enhanced, and it typically did not negatively affect their feelings . Men had to work really hard for money, because women were expected to stay at home and play the roles of housewives. “Nother time I met a guy an’he was in pitchers . . . he said he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.” (Curley’s wife to Lennie, Steinbeck 88). This shows women’s jobs just come easy to them and men had to work harder to get what they want . Men wanted to be successful, but they couldn't because they were so busy working all the time. “You’re always sayin’ that, an’ you know sonofabitching well you ain't gonna stew the b’Jesus out of George