Women's Roles in Literature

Paper Summary:

The author of this paper examines several literary works from the 19th and 20th centuries and looks at how these works depict women who were unhappy and bored because of the rigid standards and roles society imposed on women of their time. The paper compares these roles to women's roles in contemporary society and looks at how the women in the literature would have fared much better in today's society because of the greater choices for women and the fewer restrictions placed on them.

From the Paper:

"It is my opinion that in the 21st century, though it is still widely believed and expected by many that women will marry and have children, it is no longer assumed (as it was in the 19th century, and even arguably in most of the 20th century) that marriage and motherhood will be women's dominant (or only) sources of fulfillment. Instead, women today are encouraged (and in many cases expected) to have careers (or at least to work) outside the home, often while still tending to their households, being supportive of husbands, and raising families. Women nowadays, however, also have far more choice s of what roles to fulfill. Some women still fulfill traditional roles; some fulfill some, but not all, traditional roles, and others fulfill no traditional roles at all. A key difference between women's roles yesterday and today is that today's women are freer to choose their roles, with less stigma attached to unusual or "non-conforming" roles, such as police work, firefighting, or construction work, or not marrying and/or having children. Therefore, there are far fewer guidelines now for women to follow than in the past in choosing to either accept or reject traditional feminine roles; today, more than ever, it is up to the individual woman to decide what sort of life she wishes to live."

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