Women and Men in 19th century Europe - a discrepancy

Vikramaditya Arora

The 19^th century is a known time period for gender inequality. During this time, women only had a certain credibility in legal, social and political rights. Women were expected to be under males and were expected to follow certain guidelines and abide by them.  Women were also not allowed to work professionally in the corporate world, and were expected to run the household and take care of the children. Whilst middle or higher class women were still expected to run the household, lower class women were confined to working under labour or small time tasks in order to sustain their living.

Women were largely dependent on their husbands, due to the fact that they were not allowed to work, and the men of the house were the breadwinners. Thus giving them the realisation of being the inferior gender and under males. As men were considered the leaders of the house, they held the higher status, whereas women were characterised simply as sidekicks, as their role only revolved around taking care of the house, while the men are working.

These comparisons can be seen evident in the novel A Doll’s House, where the husband Torvald had the higher degree of authority over his wife Nora. For Eg when in the book, Torvald is ill and Nora takes a bank loan in order to afford the vacation, so Torvald can get well. However when Nora tells the secret to Mrs Lnde about it, she talks about how humiliating and devastating it would be for Torvald to know, that Nora owed him anything financially. This demonstrates how the husband must be the only source of income for the house.

The author also illustrates more example of the following discrimination between the genders in the book. Another example is where Mrs Linde tells Nora why she married her husband, where she was forced to marry in order to support her family. Another example includes the nicknames, which Torvald uses for calling his wife, such as- Squirrel. This demonstrates the minor status held by women.

To conclude the discrepancy between both the genders, was high during the 19^th century. Where opposite roles were appointed to the genders, in terms of their social responsibility, political views and freedom to express themselves. Nevertheless the same injustice and prejudice against women is not palpable in today’s society. Where the main focus of sexual discrimination has changed in the 20^th century compared to what it was earlier. In my opinion, things have changed for the better, as the value and power of women can be freely expressed. Showcasing that they are not only suited to work under household conditions ,but also engage in the professional and corporate opportunities around them. Several important leaders and innovators are examples of women, such as- Oprah Winfrey and Barkha Dutt. These women are examples of influential people, who have not only shown heaps of success, but also encouraged thousands of women to understand their worth, and bring out the best in themselves, by discovering their passion, and not being afraid to follow their dreams. The development of equality amongst the genders is a huge step in the growth of the society, where I strongly feel that both the genders would be happy through equality, As both the genders would want freedom of their roles in a marriage, and would want to pursue careers and choices of their own. Where men would have felt the pressure of being the only breadwinner of the house, and manage the finances completely by himself, whilst the woman would always have to be under the authority of women, and only focus on the household and children. The abolishment of these stereotypes is important, and it is good to see, that these stereotypes have been erased. Whilst Gender discrimination is still prevalent in some parts of the world, it is encouraging to see that they’re getting removed as well. After all no one would want to recall the prejudice of women in the 19^th century.