By: Dania Gallegos
Has women’s role changed? Over the years society has created specific definitions for gender roles. Gender roles determine how male and females should dress, speak, think and act. In the first evolution gender roles were known to be men being the hunters that do all the hard manly work, while women stayed behind to cook and look after the kids. Since then that traditional view of gender roles was carried into today’s society. Now we see women breaking the traditional view and develop a new view where women are seen as equally as men. However, society makes it difficult for women to be treated equally in the eyes of men. Society holds men in a high standard because of gender roles and this creates barriers for women to overcome.
We see this issue being portrayed in the show, Bridgerton, that streams on Netflix. The show mostly revolves around the love story of Daphne Bridgerton and The Great Duke. Moreso, while the audience discovers how their love came about, we see that gender role is the major issue taking place throughout the show. Bridgerton gives the audience an insight of how society makes it a challenge for the young women. Daphne demonstrates that society expects women to act, speak, and dress a certain way. Unlike men, they have the liberty to do anything without anyone judging because of how high society holds men. If the young females don't do what is expected from them, they will be banned from society and be viewed as "useless". Although Bridgerton is used to illustrate how society viewed gender roles in the eighteenth century, we see that today women still face the challenge of society holding women in a high level through men’s point of view.
Gender roles have been around for centuries and it has slowly evolved to what we know it as now. There has been a major shift in gender roles from men being the leaders to women having an equal position. Centuries ago women didn’t have the right to be the head of the house or get the liberty to do masculine activities. Today we see women given the opportunity to be independent and do maculine things. Women now have the opportunity to get an education and gain more knowledge in order to be more successful to have a high position in society. Women in the early century would not have the same liberty that women today have. In fact, women would get bashed for trying to out position a man. Alpers, a journalist for The Harvard Crimson, writes about how Eloise Bridgerton thinks and views things differently than other women about society. Alper discusses how Eloise disliked the idea of getting married and attending events where women had to dress up and act formal for men. Her interests were to travel, get an education, and to write, but she was discouraged because of her gender.
Gender roles have made a huge negative impact on women in the early centuries and today. Back then women were not allowed to be ahead of the man because men were seen as the leaders who control businesses and make the decisions, while the women fall back and don’t get a say. In Bridgerton when a couple get married, the wife is not allowed to make decisions for the land or allowed to be included in the man’s business. We see this when the Duke sits down to work on projects to help improve his land in his office, while he tells Daphne to explore the house to make herself useful (episode 6). In today’s society women have the power to make decisions of their own without a man. They have become more independent from men, but in certain situations, like in the work environment, men are still preferred to make decisions that would benefit the organization because of their gender. Micheal McKeon, an english professor at Rutgers University, published a journal article called “Historicizing Patriarchy: The Emergence of Gender Difference in England, 1660-1760” that discusses how the modern system of gender difference was developed during the English Restoration and eighteenth century, and how in marriage men held the power over women in relation to their property, business, house and land. Gender roles have made it difficult for women in today’s society to have the equality men do in relation to the work environment. For example, if a male and female apply for the same job and have the same amount of education, skills, and aspirations, it is more likely for the male to get the job because of his gender. Similarly to Bridgerton, high class women are not allowed to work or get an education because those rights belong only to men. The female’s job is to be a housewife and support the family. Eloise Bridgerton desires to be educated and have the rights men have, but can’t because society neglects her desires due to her gender.
Additionally, another major effect gender roles have on women in the 21st century is stereotyping. Stereotyping has been a major setback for women that still exist today. In the 21st century women are looked down upon or seen “less of a woman” for their actions. Meaning if a female has sex with more than one man she will be judged and people will think she has no respect for herself. However, in a man’s case it is different. When a man has sex society sees it as something “normal” and okay for men to do. No one judges or can’t say anything to the man because only they have those “rights”. Like Bridgerton women are not allowed to have sex with men until they get married. If the female commits the error of turning herself in to the man, society will ban them and they will have to face the consequences. We see this when Daphne and the Duke are alone in the garden and they commit the “crime” of kissing without supervision. The Duke then faces the consequence of life or death for disobeying the rules of matrimony because they were alone without being married and made physical contact with each other (episode 4). Through time society has normalized the idea of men having the ability to have sexual interactions with multiple women without judgment, while females get downgraded and are treated less than a female who hasn’t slept with anyone. This is an issue that will continue to exist in future generations.
In addition to society expecting men and women how to behave and dress, society has also made a negative impact on women for both the eighteenth and 21st century on how they should perceive their self image. Being a woman, it is important to dress according to “not showing skin”. In the early centuries women were not allowed to wear anything that could potentially reflect an image of “begging for sex”. However things are a little more different now. Pop culture has developed a different perspective for women to dress how they desire without caring of being judged. In some cases, people with the traditional view, women who dress unlady-like are seen as “a hoe” or “slut”. In Bridgerton we see this when the young ladies dress to impress the men in an appropriate manner so people won’t think that they are begging for any
sexual interactions. The young women are restricted to dress according to society in order to be a woman of a high class with morals and respect. If a female does otherwise, men will just perceive the female as any female that looking for sex. The issue of being cautious of your self image is an issue society will sustain for future generations for women.
To conclude, men have more power over women in many situations. Men are viewed as leaders and they will always come before women because they are masculine and they belong in the field of “hard work”. While women are viewed as “housewives” who need to stay at home and support the husband, be a caregiver and look after the man. Women won’t have the same level of position as a man in society because of all the barriers society has put up for women. One major one including stereotyping. Society has made it difficult for women to prosper when stereotyping still exists today and will continue to exist through time. These different effects are what prevented women from moving past their limitations in the eighteenth and 21st century. Women have become more independent from men compared to earlier times, but they will still have the same restrictions that existed in games ago.
Dania Gallegos lives in South Jersey and is attending Bloomfield College as a business major.
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