Gender Roles In Today's Society

Going through the years, society's rules for men and women have drastically changed. Both men and women have standards and expectations towards life decisions that people might make judgments on. Now in this generation there is a constant battle between gender roles and how people perceive each gender when it comes to careers, house chores and education. In this era, both men and women are specified to a specific role based on their society and culture. Gender roles defined by culture means how a "male" or "female" are based on their interests, characteristics and attitudes. Gender roles have developed throughout the years. People are able to adjust to thoughts, attitudes and behaviors based on their culture. In today's society, gender does
not play a major factor in careers, education and even households. During the 1700s gender roles played a factor based on everyday living. In the year 1775, women were not allowed to be on the battlefield. Females were allowed to follow their husbands to the war but were not to generally go to war themselves. Usually they would stay near the battlefield to do laundry, nurse and cook. This was carried on until the 1970s. In contrast to today's world, male or female are able to serve for your country. Starting the year of 1970 the first female was able to join a U.S. service to be trained in the combat of war. In the poem "Disabled" by Wilfred Owen, readers automatically distinguish the poem is about a male veteran who served in war. The veteran is in a depressed state of mind in which immediately reader knows the veteran has lost his legs when he explained, "He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for the dark"(1) .
Owen begins to describe how "Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn"(4)
A simile comparing the "boys saddening voices" to a "hymn" which is a praising of a song about god. The echo of voices symbolize the feeling of echoes throughout the battlefield bringing memories back from war. In line 6 of the poem, "Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him" (6)
Owen uses a metaphor describing how a mother gathers her children at the end of the day connecting it to a man who is now disabled yet not able to leave his position needing someone to put him to bed.
Throughout the poem the author wants us to realize the pain and sacrifice of a male persona of what they struggled through on the battlefield, while his wife was at home completing the household chores. Imagery is developed in line 21, 23 "...he liked a blood-smear down his leg/ It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg"(21,23)
Showing how a football player was physically fit and "liked a blood smear". Comparing the characteristics of the 1917 to the 2016 generation, the gender roles have drastically changed due to the equality and culture of people. Gender roles in the 21st century, have evolved in respecting civil rights of male and females. In the past years during the 1700s women were treated like servants to their household. In the poem "To the Ladies" by Mary, Lady Chudleigh the first line of the poem immediately describes the theme of the poem "Wife and servant are the same"(1).
The theme is explained through a metaphor comparing the "wife" to a "slave". Once they say the word "obey" which is repeated twice throughout the poem emphasizing the
synecdoche. "When she the word Obey has said"(5) "Him still must serve, him still obey"(17)
"Obey" is shown as a representation of vows during a marriage, as well as an action of a slave which is put into the word "obey" in the poem. At the wedding, all the kindness of the male figure disappears once the vows are said, Chudleigh explains how he becomes "Fierce as an eastern prince he grows/...his innate rigor shows"(9,10) which is symbolic to the poem since it creates a powerful image in one's mind on how much power her husband has in the household compared to her.
"Then but to look, laugh, or speak/...contract break,"(11,12)
Chudleigh pursues the wife or "servant" as breaking the contract if she does any of those things according to the husband. The submissive obeys the husband to which she, "Like mutes, she signs alone must make/and never any freedom take/But still governed by a nod/And fear her husband as a god,"(13-16) the "nod" in line 15 brings the value of a wife lower to the servant back in 1703 when the poem was written. Finally the servant steps up in her defense, "Then, shun, oh! shun that wretched state/And all the fawning flatterers hate/Value yourselves, and men despise/You must be proud, if you'll be wise" (21-24) persuading women they should "shun" the marriage stage and value themselves. For every man will "despise" if women "value" themselves. The lines 21-24 are an example of a rhyme scheme, "...state/...hate/...despise/...wise"(21-24). rhyming "state" and "hate", as well as "despise" and "wise". In the society of today, humanity is perceived as all one. A male role is no more powerful than a female role, everyone is treated equally no matter what
sexuality. Through the years as generation has progressed, gender roles has not been an important factor. Society's rules for men and women have dramatically changed, from staying home taking care of household chores to moving into the real world and battling in war. According to "The Guardian" women, "make up about 40% of the global formal labor force, and 43% of the agricultural labor force". Today's world there are no gender roles determining whether you are fit for the job or not.