Top Girls in the Predicament Essay

The woman’s role in society had many changes during the era of WWII to the baby boom era. It went from the strong independent woman that can work in a factory to a house wife that takes care of the family to the final slightly dominant, but still dependent female. All of these different feminine mystiques were changed because of society and through indirect propaganda in TV shows and

“A sex symbol's currency lies in her youth, her curves, in the suggestion that a sexual encounter lurks around the next corner.” (Sharon Krum, The Guardian) The media is one of the easiest ways to exemplify the power struggles between genders. In today’s society, celebrities, especially women, are judged largely on their appearance and sex appeal because it is critical for them to stay in the spotlight. This is a clear example of the inequality between the male and female, and what their roles are intended to be in society. Three Girls by Joyce Carol Oates is a story about a lesbian couple, and their observation of the behavior of a disguised Marilyn Monroe who, surprisingly to the narrator and her companion, wants to be seen as nothing more than a common person. During the progression of the story, the author provides perspective on the gender roles women faced in 1956 New York, and gives the reader insight into the thoughts and reservations of a lesbian couple in this time period. Through both implicit and explicit expression, Oates implements feminist and marxist ideas of power struggle into Three Girls in order to establish themes of imbalance and subordination by women in society.

In John Osborne 's 1956 piece, Look Back in Anger, housewife Alison Porter is faced with the difficult decision of remaining in a toxic marriage or returning to live with her parents. Indeed, Alison is the archetype of the 1950s British woman, as depicted in both academic and popular discourse—meek, miserable and resigned to her fate as mother and housewife. While such a paradigm of the 1950s woman has long remained unchallenged, historians have begun to suggest that this stereotype is inaccurate and misleading, and overlooks the complexity of female gender roles during Britain of this era. When reviewing the literature on this topic, what emerges as a clear point of tension between academics is whether the 1950s was a static or a dynamic

Women in British society during 1931 were expected to be married and look after the children. Older woman who worked in professions such as a teacher, (commonly in primary schools) were regarded with the derogatory term, “spinster,” meaning they were passed the age a woman was supposed to be married, and it seemed unlikely that the ever would.. This viewpoint was mostly because of how much effect Queen Victoria’s words had. “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.” Even some women agreed, considering political and other social equality among sexes to be improper and a sin.

The women’s liberation movement (or feminism as it is now known) of the 1960s and 1970s touched every home, business, and school (WA, 705). The movement even touched the sports and entertainment industries, in fact, “There are few areas of contemporary life untouched by feminism” (WA, 717). The word feminism in the early 1960’s wasn’t often used and when it was it was used with condescension or hatred. However, in the late sixties that changed thanks to a new group of women. This new diverse group of women included the: young, old, heterosexual, lesbians, working class, and even the privileged. This diverse group came together and collectively created the second wave of feminism.

At a time when labour unions were gaining in memberships, organization, and bargaining power, women in the workforce made marginal gains during this period considering the booming economy. Sociologically, a healthy economy should in theory provide the framework for change. When citizens have low unemployment and more money in their pockets, time and attention is less directed at bread and butter issues like sustenance and poverty, and aimed at equality and social progress. For women unfortunately, this was not necessarily the case. Their battle with employers was still a struggle between classes than gender parity. Male union leadership would naturally further male worker interests first,8 and this shows a culture of sexism in the workplace that was clearly difficult for working women to overcome. Even union-dues paying women rarely openly questioned their subordination as a sex.9 They were most likely outnumbered and the consequences of being a whistle blower did not want to be entertained. In the mindset of women who worked however, was a developing identity as female wage earners and unionists.10

During the Victorian Era, women struggled to attain gender equality by challenging the traditional roles that defined them. These women no longer wanted to remain passive and obey the demands of their husbands nor be domestic and the caretakers of their children. They strived to attain the role of a 'New Woman', an intelligent, liberated individual who was able to openly express her ideas (Eltis 452). Whereas some women were successful in attaining this new role, others were still dominated by their male counterparts. The men felt threatened by the rising power of women and repressed them by not allowing them to work, giving them unnecessary medications, and diagnosing them with hysteria (Gilman

The Gibson Girls portrays and illustrates the importance of feminine physical attractiveness, beauty, fashion, upper class, education, work opportunities. These images of her shows women’s desires and importance during the Progressive era and also wanting to have sociopolitical changes. The inequalities of women’s wages has been a controversial topic and has shifted over time to equal amount in pay for women in the workforce and working in similar positions. Today, women have big job titles and positions that are equal or above men who are in these positions. These are some of the changes we have seen in the last century, especially when it comes to women in the

Viewed as inferior to men, women endured and overcame several challenges that they faced in post-war Canada. Over the years, women have been able to prove that they excelled at their work and more often than not, worked more effectively than men. Despite the capabilities of women, some would dispute that women are not given the same consideration as men, as women are told that they cannot do achieve great feats, simply because of gender. Regardless, women have come a long way since the beginning of the feminist movement. During the interwar years, a new image of the woman came forward when they felt empowered to rewrite the rules of what it meant to be a woman in its entirety. This empowerment made it possible to later contribute to the

Also women got to work in fields that paid higher wages then the normal women would work if she stilled had her old job. Women were not seen as a person that could hold and do the jobs of men. Back then women had one particular job majority of the time. They stayed at home moms, take care of the children and to provide need for their husbands. According to Maureen Honey he stated,” The fact that a woman could step into a man 's shoes and wear them rather comfortably posed an implicit challenge to traditional notions about femininity and female limitations. The question that has absorbed those of us focusing on the ideological dimension of this period is why the media 's legitimation of female entry into male work failed to supplant the traditional image of women as homemakers, unsuited by nature for wielding power outside the domestic province, for competently manipulating the machinery at the heart of our industrial society, and for holding jobs normally allocated to male "breadwinners."

These types of feminists in the 1980s broke many barriers to be represented for their intelligence and not their appearance or status. The other stereotype that contradicts the opposing feminist, is the woman that betrays her feminist ideals in order to climb the business mountain which is embodied by the Kathrine Parker character. By using her femininity and gender to advance, then eventually cheating over her fellow female worker, reveals the character’s inconsistency. For example, Kathrine Parker flirted with a businessman to get what she wanted at a business meeting in the “Dim Sum Scene,” by using her womanly aspects to get what she wanted. Resulting in turning into the problem: oppressive powerful business employe, by disrespecting, disregarding, and robbing ideas from other employees, some of the problems women faced in the early stages of their career.

In order to properly view a story from a feminist perspective, it is important that the reader fully understands what the feminist perspective entails. “There are many feminist perspectives, and each perspective uses different approaches to analyze and interpret texts. One is that gender is “socially constructed” and another is that power is distributed unequally on the basis of sex, race, and ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, ability, sexuality, and economic class status” (South University Online, 2011, para. 1). The story “Girl” is an outline of the things young girls

During Britain’s Industrial Revolution, a multitude of different jobs were opened to the working class of men, women, and children. While this era offered a wide variety of new opportunities for everyone, women were somewhat excluded in areas such as occupation availability and wage due to the cultural norms of the time period.

The expectations and attitudes towards women have changed over the course of history. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Joyce Carol Oates’s “Three Girls,” the main characters have to live their lives according to society’s attitudes towards women. In both texts, there is the idea that society expects women to not be independent, and enforces this by preventing them from getting educations and increasing their knowledge. This impacts both stories by forcing the main women to have two separate sides of themselves: one of which is accepted by society and the other of which is not.

The play, Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill chronicles the lives of several women and their struggle to achieve success and happiness, as well as exploring their personal identities. Moreover, a central theme in the play was that of how one’s choices can affect a person’s satisfaction with their life. This theme is especially prevalent in the two contrasting characters of Marlene and Joyce.