Gender In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Men had to acknowledge the fact that women were just as capable as them. As a result of this, many women enjoyed a newfound freedom that working and earning money allowed them during the time of war. Priestly focuses on the same topic of gender, as the family do discriminate the lowers yet have such importance for the higher class, inevitably leading to Eva Smiths death. The family have shown to be more introvert and don’t really agree with gender equality as each person is treated differently- Sheila as a child and Eric as a young man.
In ‘An Inspector Calls’ gender is very significant because the book proves that there were expectations of men and women. Sheila is infantilised and is always encouraged to go out of the room. This is shown in the quote “It would be much better if Sheila didn’t listen to this story at all”. The pronoun ‘much’ and ‘all’ shows how Mr and Mrs Birling realises what Gerald had done with Eva/ Daisy and wants to save the engagement just for the class rise and the business. Eva Smith …show more content…
Mr Birling is telling Eric and Gerald about women’s self-respect which is proven in the quote “not only something to make em look prettier, but, well a sort of sign or token of their self-respect” The noun ‘token’ shows that self-respect is a ‘thing’ or an item and has to always be treasures but the irony of his own son tarnishing Eva’s self-respect by sexually exploiting her. Birling is very happy to generalise about all women and to describe them as vain, shallow and only interested in clothes. He has a patronising view of women. He has a stereotypical view of women and doesn’t see them as individuals but sees them in all the same way. Gerald also makes a sexist and superficial view which is portrayed in the quote “I hate those hard-eyed dough faced women”. Gerald shows that he can be very superficial in his view of women. If they don’t meet his eye or standards, he dislikes