Gender Roles In Dorothy Allison's A Question Of Class

Superior Essays
The sexist stereotype of women not working as hard as men causes girls to feel inferior. Women are often encouraged or just expected to be home makers and clean, cook, and raise the children. Although this work is viewed as subordinate, their work is still just that – hard work. In “A Question of Class”, Dorothy Allison tells the reader, “when the women in my family talked about how hard they worked, the men would spit to the side and shake their heads” (Allison 1). This example shows how women are looked at as inferior since domestic work is not considered real work by society, while the men work outside of the home and bring home the money. This ties into Allison’s Bastard out of Carolina because although the women worked hard to support …show more content…
She noticed how tired and unhappy the women were at working so hard and not getting any credit. She did not want her future to be like that and was forced to feel out of place with no where to turn. Bone wished to be a man so as to not be trapped in the life of being born to be a mother (Allison). These gender roles are still present today and play a negative role by pressuring women to take jobs that men view as inferior, such as stay-at-home mothers, librarians or secretaries. The inequality between men and women in today’s society can clearly be seen with examples like the wage gap or the glass ceiling. Author Laurie Penny explains how the inequality of wages between men and women affects young girls and says that girls have, “concerns about economic equality and unpaid work” (Penny 1). Women making less than men do at the same job makes little sense but shows how society interprets women’s work as less valuable than men’s. According to an excerpt from Anzaldua’s Movimentos De Rebeldia, “The culture and the Church insist that women are subservient to …show more content…
Society says that not owning a nice house or property, being poor, or having a lower or less education or job makes one inferior. This can be seen in The Bluest Eye when Claudia explains, “renting blacks cast furtive glances at these owned yards and porches, and made firmer commitments to buy themselves ‘some nice little old place’” (Morrison 18). This passage shows how owning property was viewed highly by others in society. This can also be seen in The House on Mango Street when Esmeralda describes her house that has, “paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there” (Cisneros 5). Esmeralda had no idea that her house could affect the way she was viewed by her peers and society. She was embarrassed that they did not have a nicer house to call home. This shows how the class system is unequal and those in the lower class are discriminated against. There are clear political differences in the way society views women versus men. Sexism is not just limited to political differences, but as Professor of Law Penny Weiss said, “every day that sexism continues… women are battered, raped, denied, confined, and killed” (Weiss 13). All over the world women are oppressed and these actions are not justified, as men are not oppressed in this same way. This sexism has not stopped

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