Gender

3 Pages 769 Words

Gender

An in Depth Analysis of Gender Relationships

Throughout history and in all cultures the roles of males and females vary. Relating to the piece of literature "Girl" written by Jamaica Kincaid for the time, women's roles were to work in the home. At the time that this work was written, women mainly stayed at home and did housework while few of the very poorest households required the woman to work in an industrial job. Kincaid wrote of the specific roles and responsibilities that a mother would tell her daughter. By what she wrote, one can fully understand what was expected of a woman at that time and in that particular culture. By understanding the culture in which this piece of literature is written, the gender roles, the rules of behavior for a woman and the relationships between genders can be realized. The general myth about women and their gender role in the American society is that the mother works in the home and supports her man in every way. In the literary work "Girl", Kincaid shows clearly that the woman's role in this work was to serve the family and to work mainly in the house. The mother writing this story tells her daughter that "this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease" (Kincaid 412). By her ironing his khaki shirt, he is better prepared for work to support his family.
Today's society does not always provide these clear roles since many women work a full time job and the house chores are a responsibility for both to handle, though the woman is still mainly held responsible for the home. There should be a constant search for equality in gender roles. Kincaid explains how the man is working to bring home the money and the wife supports his work. Though men and women are supposedly equal, the roles they must play in a particular relationship may be unequal. The conflict that will be revealed in the future is the desire to have the status that ...