Jill Soloway Gender Roles

During the late 19th and early 20th century in America, the rise of Feminism challenged the traditional gender roles. The female authors of this time period represented realistic aspects of women’s struggles, which often reflected limitations from society and their own lives. The three female authors who advocated women’s struggles in their writings were Sojourner Truth, Willa Cather, and Edith Wharton. In the speech to the American Equal Rights Association, Truth reveals that women do not have rights to present their voices in the court. Cather addresses women’s devastating labor life after the marriage in “A Wagner Matinee.” Likewise, in “April Shower”, Wharton portrays men’s criticism upon economically successful women. American female authors of the late 19th and early 20th century demonstrates the ideas of Feminism by men objecting to representation in politics, prohibiting career over marriage, and criticizing economic self-sufficiency.

In the excerpt from A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf argues that women writers face unfair educational, financial and social disadvantages. Throughout the excerpt, she hopes to persuade readers that in a patriarchal society, a woman must have privacy and financial independence in order to fulfill her literary potential. To accomplish this goal, Woolf effectively appeals to logos, pathos and ethos; however, her emphasis on establishing credibility most successfully persuades her readers.

Sawyer’s eyes I knew that worse than men who wrote books are women who wrote books — infinitely worse.’ and ‘Men could be mercifully shot; women must be tortured.’ (The Day They Burned The Books, by Jean Rhys, 1960) show us that, Mrs. Sawyer’s antipathy against women who write is stronger than that against men who write. From a structuralist’s perspective, it can be explained that Mrs. Sawyer, living in that era, may agree with the Western cultural mind-set that perpetuate sexual inequality. She may support that women should not write or have their own opinions, instead they should just follow traditions and rules in the Western patriarchy.

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Throughout the history of the women’s rights initiative, activists have continually struggled to endorse their cause in a inoffensive, non-derogative style. With audiences acclimated to sexist societal norms, these pioneers had to advocate their ideas with tact and caution. If they were too enthusiastic, they were received as radical. Too meak, and none would listen. Finding a balance was imperative to the success of their message. This equilibrium is excellently exemplified in Virginia Woolf’s speech, “Professions for Women,” which was delivered to the Women’s Service League in 1931. In her oration, Woolf describes her inner struggles with the patriarchy in the context of her writing career. She tries to encourage other women to

Gender Roles Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson depicted gender roles in the 1940s. It’s about the life of twin sisters Louise and Caroline Bradshaw and how they are polar opposite. The older sister Louise changed the most by defying her jealous towards her “silver spooned/ perfect” sister. Her limitations teach her many valuable lessons. The gender roles represented were the “behaviors that society considers appropriate for men and women”, not taking in account for Louise’s desires.

The 2016 United States presidential election was both a historic and unprecedented election in the country’s history. This past election saw our first female presidential candidate nominated by a major political party and almost the first female president, Hillary Rodham Clinton. This is a momentous feature, coming nearly 100 years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote in the United States in 1920. As can be illustrated from these two points in history, women’s rights have come a long way, however, there is a great deal of progress that still needs to be made. Misogyny and sexism are still prevalent today, especially in the realm of politics. As a result, Clinton was met with many acts of the sort in this past election

Renowned op-ed writer Claire Cain Miller in one of her articles, "Boys and Girls, Constrained by Toys and Costumes" brings our attention to the distinction between boys and girls for choices, this difference leads to the long-term notion of gender roles in the minds of the children. Claire's article is trying to sensitize the general public against gender difference. She tries to be sentimental by pointing out that the gender war started long before we were born, thus having the presence of a gaunt definition of what is for girls and what is for boys.

The sudden transition from separate spheres to intermingled gender roles was an unprecedented change in the 1960s. The media exemplified and reinforced these distinct stereotypes, institutionalizing them into common culture and society. However, when women entered male-dominated arenas and asserted their independence, the media still depicted female actresses and singers as being superficial and trivial. On the other hand, famous male celebrities were heavily idolized and revered. Where the Girls Are illustrates how mass media became wildly influential through the spread of the television, which in turn both enforced and contradicted women’s changing gender roles.

American literature is great source for understanding how society defines gender roles and what drives the power struggles between men and women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, deals with the limitations imposed on women by the political and social institutions of her time. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, a short story by Ernest Hemingway, illustrate the difficulties men faced during the early days of feminism between the first and second world wars. American playwright Tennessee Williams’ famous play “A Streetcar Named Desire” tells a story of how the tensions of life and unconditional submission one women made her a victim of her own destiny. The conflicts between men and women described in these works of American literature are directly caused by the societal roles assigned to the genders.

Barth, a literary critic , writes “the story’s similarities to Gilman’s own experience is the larger issue of a woman’s right to be creative and autonomous. The story can be seen as advocating a woman’s right to act and speak for herself; the alternative clearly leads to madness, as it does for Jane” (para. 7). In making this comment, Barth acknowledges Gilman’s personal experiences that led to the creation of this story, which teaches the importance of women standing up for themselves and advocating for what they believe is right.Very similar to Barth, Amy E. Hudock, a critic and writer, also acknowledges Gilman’s use of personal events as she states “Charlotte Perkins Gilman used her personal bout with postpartum depression to create a powerful fictional narrative which has broad implications for women” (para. 7). Both critics, focus on the idea that Gilman used real events in her life that she felt passionate about, to create a story that would speak to many of the repressions some women

We all commonly assume that we act freely, that we make our own decisions without regard to the opinions of those around us. We all like to think we create our own stories, and choose the way we tell them. However, many of us are probably at least tempted to wonder if this a thing completely within our control, how much of it is, and how we can resist attempts of others to write our stories for us, regardless of what we actually desire. Particularly when it comes to women, the society around us is very sure of what it wants our stories to be, and who should tell them and when. This is, of course, a process that begins early. As Foss,

Women and women of color play specific roles in movies and films. It is a little more obvious when it comes to women of color to the roles they play in movies and films. We see women and women of color play a couple of roles. Does not matter the movie they will always find a way to play one of the few roles that are “meant” for women to play. Movies such as Southside With You, The Color Purple, and Queen of Katwe show women having these kinds of roles. Today’s movies and films show specific roles for women and women of color to play.

While gender roles of that in the 1970 's were framed by the traditional "Pop catches the pig and Ma cooks the bacon", Being Mary Jane is nothing short of progressive. Playing by her own rules, Mary Jane exemplifies the life of a successful news anchor who used stereotypes to propel forward, better known as Gender Judo, to climb the corporate ladder. Single and 1seemingly having it all, Mary Jane is yet missing an intricate piece to the American Dream puzzle-a family of her own. Through my lens, Being Mary Jane, a television show produced by Black Entertainment Television, frees us from the traditional framework of family by depicting women in a light of success without the dependence of a husband. It offers a relatable platform for women to be shown as competent, valuable and independent yet simultaneously sensitive to the needs of family nurturing which in turn offers a sense of completion.

Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and