Differences Between Male and Female Social Roles in Shakespeare - Essay Example

Differences between Male and Female Social Roles Gender Roles The society is biased in the way it divides social roles and responsibilities in reference to gender. Gender inequality has been a topic of discussion for several centuries with different scholars and poets using their works to demonstrate the magnitude of the issue. Poets such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen have use their literary works to show the differences the society demonstrates when it comes to distributing social roles between men and women. This paper seeks to ascertain the views of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night" and Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice" on distribution of social roles in the society and how different they are for each gender. The paper will also seek to demonstrate how the different social roles in the society compete with each other and how they can be equally distributed between men and women. There are major differences between men and women in the society in reference to the social roles they perform. Men tend to perform better in certain roles mainly those demanding compared to women in the society. Women on the other hand tend to perform better in social roles such as taking care of domestic responsibilities like taking care of children. Women also perform better in roles such a secretarial and office clerks. The productivity of these jobs is determined by one’s level of education, interest and other responsibilities in life. Men have better education than women in the society and tend to perform better in social roles requiring academic qualifications. Shakespeare and Jane Austen have different opinion regarding these opinions and how women should be treated in the society. Gender and Social Roles Gender refers to the perception of human beings as to what can be classified as male of female depending on their social roles in the society and not necessarily because of their biological orientation. Therefore, gender is socially contrasted and created. Gender development is one of the most common changes that have occurred in the human history. They way people perceive women in the society today, is totally different from the way they are perceived in the works of Jane Austen. The male domination in the society that was experienced centuries ago is no longer the case because women have taken difficult tasks in the society. Generally, men and women are perceived to occupy varying positions in the society. Women are believed to be responsible for taking care of the domestic roles such as taking care of children. On the other hand, men are believed to occupy the corporate world or to be in the public domain seeking for ways to sustain their families. This believes is contrasted by Shakespeare in his work Twelfth Night since he views both men and women as equal entities in the society. His perception received criticism from different people who saw women as a weaker sex in the society. According to some critics, the Twelfth Night presents a gender ambiguity in terms of classifying social roles in the society. Jane Austen believes that women are lazy and cannot in anyway compete with men effectively in a competitive environment. She gives the example of Elizabeth who had to rely on men for her daily upkeep. However, the context and the time when Jane Austen developed her work were totally backward because education was not accessible to women. People lived in darkness and women were not in any position to defend them to occupy lucrative positions in the society that were enjoyed by men. Lack of enlightenment increased inequality in the society because women believed in being supported by men and accepted any suggestion from the domineering portion of the society. Gender Social Roles in the Society Social roles in the society are divided in reference to masculine, education, experience and interests. However, women rarely enjoy any of the above because they have been discriminated in the society by men. For instance, women are considered inexperienced to perform managerial roles in the corporate world because they spend most of their time taking care of children. The other reason why women are considered inexperienced is because some tend to opt for part-time jobs bearing in mind they have domestic responsibilities to handle. This is a discrimination against women because such responsibilities should be shared equally between men and women. The two poets Shakespeare and Jane Austen differ on this subject because the former believes men and women should have equal opportunities while the latter has a different opinion on the same issue. The responsibility of taking care of children has being left in the hands of the women while men are roaming around seeking for better jobs. There should be harmonisation of this responsibility because according to Shakespeare, either of them can perform the duty given in an equal manner. Men should not escape responsibility in the disguise of seeking better jobs to provide for the family, women also can provide for the family if given the opportunity. However, Jane Austen women can only fit in this role because they do not have what it takes to perform in demanding jobs such as being the manger of a blue chip company. Certain jobs desire people to be masculine for them to execute the duties in a professional manner. For instance, digging a well, using tracks to construct roads and cultivating for farm produce are some of the jobs deemed to need masculine people. Women are discriminated against these jobs because of their feminine nature. According to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, women are not up to the task of performing masculine jobs simply because they are women. However, Shakespeare contracts this argument in his Twelfth Night by noting that women and men are equal in all ways if given the right skills to perform a given task. Men should not be allowed to discriminate against women for these jobs because women are taking up responsibilities especially from the developing world. Women perform secretarial jobs because they are not demanding. Many of them also opt to work as office clerks because the job does not demand much think of their side. Their emotional way of thinking makes it difficult for them to accept challenging tasks such as being managers in a bank or working in the police force. Police force does not need emotional people and this is what discriminates women in this kind of job. Discrimination against Women in the Society There are several reasons why women are discriminated in the society. One of the major reasons is the lack of proper education to compete with men in the society as explored by Jane Austen in her literary work Pride and Prejudice. At the time of her work, education was a rare commodity for women because it was only reserved for men only. Failing to access proper education means that you are not fully equipped for certain societal challenges that require learned people such as being a lawyer, doctor or even engineer. Women were believed to be incapable of going through a schooling system successfully because of teenage pregnancy. This was a very big challenge and still is a challenge that women will have to overcome for them to be treated equally as men in the society. Women are believed to be emotional and many times are guided by their emotions into making decisions. Making decisions because of emotions is not a good think for the society because people tend to regret later after such decisions. This aspect makes women to be discriminated in the society hence improper division in social roles. Many companies around the globe do not give women tasking responsibilities not because they are not educated, but for the reason that they let their emotions to rule. However, Shakespeare believes that women should be given a chance to develop and perform their duties in a friendly environment. Jane Austen believes otherwise on this issue, that women cannot be trusted with demanding roles in the society. Women are discriminated against earnings when they are performing similar tasks as their male counterparts. This is decision is reached based on the experience of the employee and the reliability in a given duration of time. Women generally will have lesser experience compared to men because of the time lost when taking care of the children or when they opt for maternity leave. This time lost is never recovered and disadvantages women when it comes to the number of years of experience in a certain job. This is a very unfair discrimination hence the assertion by Shakespeare that equality must be exercised between men and women. Another reason for discrimination against earnings is the fact that women opt for part-time jobs which generally pay poorly. This is because they seek to create time for their family and they can only get it when doing part time jobs. How do the social roles compete? Social roles in the society compete in different ways. According to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, women and men should be treated equally in diving responsibilities. However, some responsibilities my demand more of women than men while others would demand more of men that women. For instance, a woman goes for a maternity leave, there is a high possibility she will not be in a position to perform certain duties such as cleaning the house, utensils or cooking. This would need the intervention of the man to take care of the responsibilities related to domestic work. If a man falls sick, the woman in the house might chip in to help with the masculine jobs such as cultivating in order to provide for the family. In this case, the roles compete in the sense, despite the fact that either of the parties is able to accomplish each others responsibilities, it would be more ideal for the women to take care of the domestic responsibilities compared to the man. Education has brought revolution in the society and social roles are changing with women taking up challenging tasks such as managing companies. In spite of high level of education achieved by different women in different spheres, most of them still think of their domestic roles and also go for maternity leave. This absence from work lowers their responsibility and productivity in a given ole. This role of a woman managing a company competes with the domestic role of taking care of children and doing other household jobs. This means that a company that has decided to hire employees on the basis of education and not gender might experience difficulties in times when the woman in leadership starts to think of her family and the domestic roles awaiting her back at home. Work Cited Donno, E. Story ed., The New Cambridge Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Cambridge, CUP, 1985 Read More