By Leslie Gomez
Imagine being constantly on top of what you do, making sure not one mistake occurs in case someone is watching. Imagine watching the people around you do certain things that you cannot and always wondering why that is. This is the truth for women that many men do not understand. Similar to the show Bridgerton and to the real world, women are held at such high standards, but at lower status than men. In the show, it escalates once the female characters realize the immense pressure and expectations put upon them as women to succeed in the eyes of society. The young women go through meticulous steps to find a husband, or else they are viewed as unwanted. If they do the opposite of what is expected or are seen doing things that are unlady-like, they can be banned from society. The females in Bridgerton are forbidden from doing what men do, or otherwise will experience criticism because they are simply women.
It is often difficult for a woman to be heard. In the show, Lord Nigel Berbrooke almost forced Daphne to marry him because Daphne's oldest brother, Anthony, promised him her hand in marriage. Daphne was infuriated that Anthony promised the Lord her hand in marriage when she explicitly did not love him, especially since Anthony made the decision for her without consulting first. Rita Alator, a writer on the Medium, highlights the important meaning of feminism, and how Daphne contributes to it. She states, “Daphne displays a strong conviction of independence and does not allow any man in her life, not her brother or husband to challenge that”. Although Daphne is choosing to follow societal expectations by searching for a husband, she wants to do it on her own without any man telling her what to do.
In comparison to today’s world, many women do not have voices in the workforce. Ghorfati and Medini, emphasize the importance of women in the workforce, and how it was a struggle for women to be accepted in an environment that was viewed as only applicable to men. Moreover about women in the workforce, women are paid much less as compared to men for doing the same job. In the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, it provides a graph demonstrating the huge wage gap between men and women. In a similar article, Kirillova et al talk about women being first introduced to the workforce. Once women were allowed to work, they were exploited, and were forbidden to obtain leadership roles. It is important to notice that in modern day women have progressed so much. Although women are still criticized for many things, it does not stop them from trying to achieve equality.
In addition, it is harder for women to choose their life paths without the fear of being criticized. In the show, men are allowed to receive an education and travel, but women are not. Eloise, Daphne’s younger sister, longs to go to school like the young men and strives to be beautiful with her mind, not with her appearance. Mira Alpers, a writer for the Harvard Crimson states, “Eloise, she lives in a society where marriage is the main tool women have for upward mobility, and she knows that marriage is not the right path for her”. Every young woman desires a husband because it is the culture they grew up in. On the contrary, even though Eloise was raised with those ideologies, she still resents it. In Mandy Boehnke’s article, she emphasizes the reasons why women are becoming more defiant to egalitarian roles, one of the main reasons being that those who are raised with a single parent, preferably the mother, are more likely to non-conform to gender roles. Eloise was raised by a widowed mother with six other siblings. It could have been possible that she was influenced by a significant
change in environment after her father died, and watching her mother raise seven children that made her way of thinking different from other people. Women are subtly being pushed away from egalitarian roles, in order to keep a male dominance.
Furthermore, men and women don’t receive the same amount of backlash. In the show, there is a scene where Daphne and Simon go to the garden during a ball and they end up kissing. Anthony saw what happened and immediately proposed a duel with Simon for taking away Daphne’s honor. It is shocking that there were many scenes where male characters were shown having sexual intercourse with women below their class status, and some people knew about it, but not much was said about it because it was seen as normal. On the other hand, the female characters cannot even be alone with a man without people thinking something is going on. Similar to today, men are allowed to have sexual intercourse with many women and be seen as a “player”, but if women do it then they are seen as dirty and used. In Faga’s video, she pulls out seven important lessons that modern feminists should learn from Bridgerton, and expands upon those lessons and relates them to today’s world. One important lesson the author titled “Remember that Consequences Are not the Same For Men and Women”, emphasizes how differently society treats both genders. Men are able to do many things without being criticized, but even if women do the exact same thing, they will receive backlash.
Apart from women having to act a certain way, they always have to physically appear a certain way. In the first episode of the show, this scene was the beginning of my realization of what the show was going to be about. Lady Featherington was tightening Philipa Featherington’s corset tighter than it was able to fit on her because Philipa has to look skinnier.
Lady Featherington also said how when she was Philipa’s age, she was able to fit into a much smaller size, putting down her daughter for not being skinny enough. In comparison to today’s world, women who are at the ideal body type and size are immediately put down. In Spencer et al. article, the authors explicitly explain how adolescent girls are gaining unhealthy eating disorders and behaviors. When compared to adolescent boys, girls are much less likely to do physical sports, and more likely to develop an eating disorder. Even at a young age, girls are pressured into doing what society expects of them. Society expects women to look like their beauty standard.
Many men do not understand the struggle women go through on a daily basis. A society with rules and expectations, made up by men themselves, have restricted women from doing what they want and acting how they want to in fear of being judged. Men definitely experience judgments too, but not as severe or often as women, most of the time for doing the same things that men do. Double standards definitely do exist. Additionally, there are lots of men that believe gender inequality does not exist. For example, in many cultures, misogyny is very prevalent. Men who have been raised in that culture find it normal for women to be inferior to men, and do not acknowledge a women’s struggle.
The male characters in the show are allowed to do almost anything they want because society has no rules or opinions against them. On the other hand, women are prohibited from doing anything close to what men are allowed to do because it is "unlady like" and "boys will be boys". The young women looking for husbands, like Daphne, have to be extremely careful in how they act, how they dress, how they dance, how they eat, their facial expression, etc., because one wrong move means they will not be accepted into society. In today’s world, although women have the freedom in choosing their own life path, they are pressured in choosing what they think they want. Since birth, expectations are placed upon females, making it difficult to make decisions solely based on what they want and not what society wants. It is important to acknowledge that women have achieved so much already, but the fight isn’t over yet.
Leslie currently lives in northern New Jersey and is a student at Bloomfield College.
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