When Jane says this, she is expressing her feelings on feminism.
She is saying that women should be viewed as more important people, and that they should be encouraged to do or learn more, not laughed at. This view comes from Charlotte Bronte, who writes several different comments about female equality. This book was written in the mid-nineteenth century, so the role of women in society was fairly low. They weren’t expected to do too much other than “making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing the piano and embroidering bags” (Bronte 93).
Charlotte Bronte obviously feels strongly as far as women having a more important role in society. It is interesting to see how the society that Bronte hoped for would come true later in the future. The role of women has greatly changed since Charlotte Bronte wrote her story. If she had been alive in our society today, she would continue to fight for more equality for women, just as she did in her