Gender Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Womanhood in the South was mainly composed by imposing heavy gender roles that in turn have heavily influenced the modern day society’s views on gender norms. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the high expectations of Alexandra making Scout grow up to be a perfect Southern belle were evident, some of them able to be transferred to today’s expectations of women. Alexandra “was fanatical on the subject” of Scout’s clothing, as she could “not possibly hope to be a lady” if she wore anything that did not have a skirt on it. Scout was told she shouldn’t be doing anything that involved her not wearing a dress as it was unladylike and improper. However, she was not only hearing it from one who was beat down with the same words that she was beaten down by, as Atticus and Jem were also constant in their remarks about Southern women. Atticus had told Scout that women couldn’t serve on the jury because they had to protect the frail ladies from cases like Tom Robinson’s, grinning as he remarked that they would never get a whole case tried due to the possibility of women interrupting to ask questions. Women were supposed to be quiet and submissive, be polite, be homemakers, and bear many other expectations upon their shoulders. Scout noted that women seemed to live in fear of men and that they would not get far if they did not wear dresses.