The Shift In Women's Expectations For Women

To begin with, she pointed out examples of how women are treated unfairly in society. She began to point out several double standards. The wife states, “about accused Lamech’s bigamy? Abraham was a holy man I know, And as I understand it Jacob also; And each of them had wives now, more than one, as many other holy men have done.” (61-65) Here, she shows that there is truly a double standard for women who behave in an exact manner as men.

Due to advances in technology, the discovery of new lands, and changing public opinion; people desire new things and the equality of man is constantly changing. For thousands of years males were considered superior to females in most cultures. In a civilized society it was often considered the duty of the man to work and provide for his family. Alternately, it was perceived that women should stay home and take care of the children and that they were not able to perform most the tasks that men did. Population expansion into the western part of the United States marked a change in the traditional role of women in daily life. The new gender roles that were pioneered during this time of expansion were very different from the previously defined roles. Gender roles again began to change at the turn of the nineteenth century. Unlike the 1800s, the 1900s held more independent development opportunities, however, at the same time women went back to governed by a strict common perception.

Jane deliberately disobeyed her husband and sought out her wants. Disregarding what others had to say about her strange behavior; Jane proceeded to do what she wanted; to write. Nevertheless, Jane was slightly still submissive towards her husband due to the fact that she hid her journals to prevent displeasing John. Her tiny action that went against John’s morals that was bestowed upon her was the mark of Jane’s awakening. Jane’s awakening had caused a ripple effect on other women; they all began to draw out their inner beings. The conservatives in America could do nothing, but to sit back and watch the changes unfold right in front of them. There was no way out of this change; sooner or later those that degraded the rebellious females would realize that women can and will be much more than those wimpy little wives they were always told to be.

The addition of Helen Burns in Jane’s life leaves a permanent mark as Helen becomes a role model for Jane, by being a patient, forgiving, and wise individual. Helen was sent out of history class and told to stand in the middle of the schoolroom, Jane was shocked at how patiently she accepted the punishment, ‘’I expected she would show sign of great distress and shame; but to my surprise she neither wept or blushed.’’ Helen demonstrates her patience by remaining calm during her punishment, and not wavering during any of her hardships. She has the propensity to face any difficult situation in a peaceful and patient manner. Being at the young age of around thirteen, one would expect her to be fearful or intolerant of her punishments, but she maintains

Faith and religion rests in the core of Jane’s character and actions, but also causes tension with her independence. At Lowood, she struggles to reconcile her desire to rebel against oppression and injustice with the words of Helen saying to submit like Christ. She chooses to submit, experiencing an “extraordinary sensation”, feeling “as if she was a martyr” (67). Through her submissions, she learns to be virtuous. This virtue is challenged when she must choose either to be Rochester’s mistress, or to forsake the man she loves, jeopardizing her happiness. Abiding by God’s law, she leaves, believing that “God directed [her] to a correct choice” (366). Jane faces her fiercest tension when she faces St. John’s proposal to marry him and become a missionary’s wife. She desires to continue in God’s will, telling St. John that “I will give my heart to God”, but knows that marrying him goes against her every desire. She wishes to be free from St. John; she desires her independence. She nearly submits, were she “but convinced that it is God’s will” that she marry St. John (426). She prays for Heaven to “show [her] the path” (426). Jane truly seeks God’s will, and in return, “seemed to penetrate very near a Mighty Spirit” (427). Her devotion to God is rewarded as she prays in her “different way to St. John’s” (427). God releases Jane from a life married to St. John and allows her to return to Rochester and become his wife. Jane’s faith in God allows her to make virtuous

Gender expectations in society were not only limited to marriage guidelines, but went as far as to outline what a woman should wear and say. The proper Victorian woman was supposed to always be suitably dressed. This means that she should wear a dress that covered everything down to her ankles. It was even scandalous if a woman were to show her feet in public. A proper woman should also always be conservative with her speech and hide her sexuality. If a woman were to speak about or show her sexuality, she would automatically be seen as ‘loose’ and be looked down upon. Swartz-Levine describes how ‘loose women’ were seen when she explains: “…an Imprudent woman is looked on as a kind of Monster; a thing diverted and distorted from its proper

Orlando by Virginia Woolf addresses the issues of gender conformity and expectations through time; in this case, three centuries during the Elizabethan Era in the area around Europe. The main character, Orlando, experiences a gender change during his lifetime to become a female and that drastically modifies the way that she lives. Through the motif of Orlando’s gender change and androgyny, Orlando experiences both life and love, which is not common for men and women regardless of the time period.

The society we live in today has expectations for everyone from birth till death. These expectations can make us become a person we never thought we would be, or a person we are glad that we became. You can call these many expectations your gender role which is a set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable or appropriate for a person based on your actual or perceived sex. Everyone living in society today has them to fill. Gender roles do not always have a positive impact on a person. When you are growing up your parents always told you to be who you wanted to be and to chase your dreams. The requirements your suppose to fill while perceived as a male or a female make

Jane suffered silently through an abundance of reprimanding during her childhood, that was often unmerited and unjust. Nevertheless, Jane refused to fall victim to her family’s actions by remaining tolerant of their lack of respect towards her. When Jane finally confronted her aunt after receiving unfair punishment and the false title of being a liar, she showed for the first time her pent-up emotions and the toll living in that household had created. Jane refused to allow her aunt to control

Helen Burns’s memorable, albeit short-lived role in Jane Eyre proves to be incredibly influential on young Jane during the rest of the novel. Helen serves as Jane’s first direct interaction with strong faith in someone her own age. Helen embodies an incredibly passive faith, believing that she will be rewarded in heaven for her suffering on Earth. She goes as far to say, “...do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you” (Bronte 70). And being a student at Lowood, the boarding school where Jane first makes her acquaintance, she is quite familiar with suffering. All of the students, in fact, are familiar with the sacrifice and self-deprivation present in many aspects of their life, such as their diet of “burned porridge” and “strange

Gone are the days when body building used to be only men's forte. These days, women are equally competing with men in almost all the fields and body building is not an exception by any means. There are lots of women who take part in women's body building these days and the number seems to be growing up year after year.

The treatment of women has changed dramatically. In the field of theology and biblical interpretation the treatment of women has done almost a 180.

Gender roles have changed a lot in the past one hundred years. From Rosa Parks to Susan B. Anthony women have had a lot of controversy. Women were not expected to get education, were not thought of equally, and were not allowed to get certain jobs they wanted.

Should our biological sex determine our personality? In modern society, they do. From birth, we are assigned a gender and are socialized to conform to certain gender roles. Even when the babies are still in the womb, we put gender expectations on them. For instance, boys like blue while girls like pink. Gender expectation impact men and women in the areas of employment, dating, and marriage.

“We have an abundance of rape and violence against women in this country and on this Earth, though it 's almost never treated as a civil rights or human rights issue, or a crisis, or even a pattern. Violence doesn 't have a race, a class, a religion, or a nationality, but it does have a gender.” That was said by Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things To Me, a book regarding men’s false assumptions about women and society. Sexual violence against women is an ongoing issue facing multiple different countries around the world. Many places have done things to minimize the violence, as well as completely eliminate it from their culture, but this problem of sexual violence is extremely evident and nearly uncontrollable in Egypt especially. Egyptian women were continuously being sexually violated no matter the circumstances, after a law was passed, limiting sexual harassment, there were repercussions within the community and very little change took place. 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have been victims of sexual violence sometime throughout their life (Schultz 1). Sexual violence is an obstacle that the social community has to overcome, but is having a considerably difficult time doing so.