Woman in Society

Dan Tarrant

Professor Boylan

Tragic & Comic Vision

 December 10,2014

Woman in Society

While one can say that men and woman are now essentially equal, one argument always rises to the top of the political problems of gender in equality. While woman work and many are the bread winners of their house hold it seems that compared to men they receive less pay. It tells society that a man’s work is better than a woman. Weather one believes this to be true or not, it is a generality that holds a presence in society. The few women who can break over this yield of what would seem to be a standard woman, typically have to hurtle much great leaps of progress to achieve these goals than men. The play “a Glass Menagerie”, one see’s woman’s attempts to overcome some of these barrios they chase what she sees as success.

The ceremony of matrimony is one of the most important events in a woman’s life. This aspect of a woman’s life can presumably be a direct factor of the pressures society, as well as family creates for them. It is the unspoken double standard that a man should be the head of the family, in a position of control but also bear the majority support of the family. The lack of a husband for a woman would make her appear to be of no value. While we have strong independent woman today, it seems that society has always been reluctant to allow more responsibility in the hands of woman. Laura, one of the characters in the play “The Glass Menagerie” becomes entangled in this societal concept where many of the loved ones who surround her attempt to marry her off. First we see her mother attempt to persuade her brother to have one of his pears introduced to Laura as a means of trying to get her married. While latter one finds Amanda present an argument for Tom, her son, to marry Laura because without him she would not be able to support herself. It may not be that Laura wants to get married but rather that every on around her is convinced she “needs” to get married. This means of suppressing woman that society has created cast the illusion that woman can only survive by being dependent to men, and for each in particular woman their husband.

Marriage would appear to be only the first on a list for woman requirements in society, second would be producing off spring. While today people understand the that lack of fertility can be of reason from both male and female alike, it was common for men to leave women for not being able to become pregnant also burdening them with all of the blame. Continuing the family line was seen to be a woman’s only true responsibility. Even not being able to bear a male child so that inheritance could be passed down would be reason enough for a woman to be abandoned by her family. Lundberg and Rose mentioned, “Sociological studies of the effect of child gender on marriage and divorce have emphasized the social norms that dictate a father's more active role in parenting sons than daughters, and have postulated a positive causal relationship between paternal involvement and marital stability”. The stigma of gender differences affects a couple’s relationship. With the current societal changes it is still seen to be a woman’s job to be a mother. In many ways females have some power in their ability to individually have children such as artificial insemination and adoption but these options were made available because many woman feel the societal need to be a mother.