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Anthony Montes
Professor Ditch
English 113B 9:30
19 February 2014
Pros and Cons of Gender of Society
If you look around women and men have change in many ways since the 1930s. In the
early 1900s women were basically housewives. Women jobs were to cook and clean the house.
Another role that woman had was to get married. Men role were to go to work and bring money
to the house. In the book The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society the main
character Juliet doesnt want to get marry. During that time women were getting married to
become housewives. I argue that gender politics plays a big role in this world especially in the
1900s.
Juliet the main character in this novel doesnt want to get marred. She says I don't want
to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my
life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with (Shaffer). During this
time that was not common that a woman didnt want to get marry without any reason. Another
thing was that she was a writer. Back in the day woman were not writers they were housewives.
Women would either work in factories or stay at home. The women that would work in the
factory were because the men were at war fight. The other reason was because they need help
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making the war supply. The men were the writers during that time of the World War 2. Some of
the men would also be the publisher at the time. The rest of the men would fight in the war.
During World War II women were working in factories making ammo, part for tanks and
aircrafts. They would also work in office. They would do paperwork and would report what was
going on during the battle. Some would go to the army. In the article 92 Recall Days as A
WWII Aviator the author talks about that how woman in the WWII were treated. Women were
use for practices shooting. Women would be in planes with targets in the back of their aircraft.
They also would send the women go first so they can get shoot down instead of the mens.
More than 25,000 women applied for training. Nearly 1,900 were accepted, and little more than
1,000 passed the training and joined. Women in during that time were not really seen as people
fight for their country. They were seen as staying that the house and getting the kitchen ready for
when the men would get home from work. Women were trying to get independent. They didnt
want to just stay home they wanted to do something different. The women were trying to prove
to the men that they are more than just a lady who stays that the house. Juliet is similar to this
because she didnt want to be the regular housewife. She wanted to write. She wanted to do
something different from the other women. She didnt want to get marry that the time she just
want to write her books.
In the article Gender Matter in Politics by Waylen and Georgina it says that gender is
socially constructed meaning of masculinities and femininities. This includes the stereotypes for
both male and female. The behavior they are supposed to have as a male and as a female. The
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behavior they thought was all of the sad and depresses. The way male and female are look at in
others way of thinking. Female have a different way of thinking. Males think that women are
weak that they can let their emotion get to their head. This would lead to failure in the things that
women are in charge. Males think of themselves that they are better and they couldnt let their
emotion take over. Males see things in a different point of view. Males see themselves as strong
minded. Males also think that female is not trustworthiness. In the book The Guernsey Literary
and Potato Peel Pie Society Juliet is a trustworthy character in the book. She is trusted by most
of the people in the book. She prove that she can be trusted and not allow anyone look at her as
less. She had a different way of thinking then most people.
In the article Gender Politics and Social change by Georgina say that women have
improved over the time. In the past they were look at housewives. Just to stay home and look out
for their child. Now in the present the women have gotten a different view. An example of these
is women are standing up for themselves. Another example is Michelle Obama she is the first
lady. She has taken a leadership. Michelle Obama has overcome some obstacles. Another
example that stood up for herself was Rosa Parks. Not only did she stand up because she was
black but also because she was a woman. This showed a lot of women that they can stand up and
fight for their rights. It also showed that if women were not going to be look at less than others.
People in the past wouldnt have done this because they didnt stand up for themselves. They
probably did stand up for themselves but the females were look at differently from now.
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In How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua talks about how she would get in
trouble for speaking in Spanish. She was trying to control her tongue so she wouldnt talk in
Spanish. She wasnt allowed to speak Spanish during school. She would try to stop but she
couldnt because it was in here culture to speak Spanish. This is similar to the Germans in the
book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society if they would try to speak without
the others to find out that they were Germans they couldnt because they would have an accent.
That the same thing that happen to Gloria she would have an accent. She didnt like the fact that
she had an accent.
Females are not the only on that have in impact when it comes to gender roles. Males are
also included with this topic. Males are often expected to be strong, tall, handsome, rough,
emotionless, and also fearless. They are not supposed to be weak. In the book The Guernsey
Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Dawsey is a pig farmer so you can tell he is a hard worker.
He is also stated that he is a strong loving man. Another character that is described like a gender
role is Mark he is describing as handsome and rich guy. He is look at a well male as in the way
people would expect them to be. Not always are men look at in a positive way. They can also be
looked at in a negative way. Such as men who hit their women and disrespect them. Men think
that hitting their women is acting like men would act. Men think that by hitting a woman it
shows that they are stronger and prove to be more dominated. Women would agree with the men
who think hitting lady is okay. Women like the mens like Dawsey and Mark who work, are
handsome and respectful to women.
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Women have the same equal rights as men but they dont court as the same as men.
Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to
them.- Oscar Wilde. This quote talks about women are capable of living a longer turn because
they are not allow to do thing that men are. Maybe its not that they are not allowed but how
society has made them look at. Something that women were not allowed during the 1900s were
smoking and drinking. That are one thing that they are able to live longer. Women would have a
sex appeal which during some era they were not because they thought if women would have sex
appeal it would cause man to have sex with them and create more babies. They were not allowed
to wear pants they would wear dress.

In the article The Appointment of Female Cabinet Ministers Worldwide by Grace says
that women have traditionally been misjudge among the government minister. It talks about
improvement may empower to the gender politic groups. It also says that men didnt want her
because she was a woman. She was trying to prove that she is capable of handling the thing a
government minister would do. Women are trying to show that they are trustworthiness. That
woman is capable of becoming something better in life. This can be related to Juliet because she
was a bit misjudged. She wanted to be a writer so she did. At the same time she was look at
weird because she want to look became a writer. She asks people to talk about her and one of
them talk bad and misjudge her. That wasnt the true because she was trustworthiness and
everyone got along with her. She has gain people trust thats what made her a good person in the
book.
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In conclusion women and men have change in many ways since the 1930s. They have
overcome some of the stereotype that was given in the 1900s. Male and female have gone
though some challenges. I argue that gender politics plays a big role in this world especially in
the 1900s but not only the 1900s.















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Works Cited
WAYLEN, GEORGINA. "Gender Matters In Politics." Political Quarterly 83.1 (2012):
24-32. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Adasi, Grace Sintim, Hannah Benedicta Taylor Abdulai, and Ransford Churchill. "Gender Politics
And Social Change: The Status Of Women Leaders In The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana."
Canadian Social Science 9.6 (2013): 105-110. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Feb. 2014
Krook, Mona Lena, and Diana Z. OBrien. "All The PresidentS Men? The Appointment
Of Female Cabinet Ministers Worldwide." Journal Of Politics 74.3 (2012): 840-1855.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
Anzaldua,Gloria How to Tame a Wild Tongue. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011, Third
Edition
Sedaris. Info on PDF. 2001.

Recall Days as A WWII Aviator