Role of Women in Society

1
Role of women in society
Question 7
Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar narrates a story of a mentally challenged girl, named as Esther.
Certain responses are presented as traits of a mentally challenged person but they put questions
against social evils that were prevalent in the society of 1950s. Esther is portrayed as a mentally
challenged girl that finds herself in a great dilemma. On the one hand, she likes poetry and
remains happy in the work of composing poems; on the other hand, she is expected to serve as
wife and mother of her children.
She does not know what she wants to be in her professional career and is accustomed to
social evils present in those times. She never thought beyond her daily life; she is a very good
student and learner who have consistently performed well in her studies. That is the reason she is
getting a scholarship for her studies. But she never realized what her happiness lies in? She never
imagined herself beyond her work as an editor and her role as a good student. When her boss
asks her about her work, she actually realizes her ignorance about the nature of work making her
happy. She likes to write poems but social regulations do not allow her to perceive her career as
a poet. This is the dilemma faced by Esther as a woman in the 1950s. Esther cannot bore
implications of violating societal norms, but at the same time, she wants to pursue a career of a
poet as that makes her happy.
Society expects her to follow the narrow role of wife or mother. The society might want
such a narrow role for women due to many reasons which are given in this paper. The one reason
can be economic; in the case of unemployment (as imagined in the period of 1950s), men do not
get enough jobs, leave alone women. So women may be perceived as job seekers who steal jobs
from men (Zarar, Bukhsh and Khaskheli). In the 1950s, during heydays, disguised employment
was prevalent. So during those times, women could be regarded as only extra burden that snatch

2
Role of women in society
the jobs from well-educated males. Women are not given equal economic rights even today.
Recently, women of various developed countries came to the street demanding equal wages for
equal work. Another economic discrimination or reason for such a role for women can be the
absence of property rights (Okechukwu, Souza and Davis). In many countries of the world, only
sons are the heir apparent to their father, not daughters. This places women in a lower position as
compared to men. Additionally, there is less number of jobs suitable for women today, leave
alone 1950s. Women are still harassed and discriminated against at the workplaces. Me too
campaign that spread all over the world is the significant evidence of such discrimination.
Women can only become independent if they gain economic power; economic inferiority makes
women inferior sex as compared to men. Restriction to economic rights leads to portraying
women as only wives and mothers.
The second reason can be societal. Society considers women as the inferior gender,
society does not consider women capable of working for their career. Another societal reason for
this discrimination against women can be the exclusive prerogative of women to give birth to
offsprings. During the days of pregnancy, women become entirely dependent on men. This role
is seen by society as an inferior one as the society was still patriarchal in 1950s as it is today.
Societal restrictions still bind the women in fetters in many parts of the world. In many religious
scriptures, women are considered inferior sex that further accentuates the feeling of the disgraced
role of women (Triana, Jayasinghe and Pieper).
Men are exempted from these rules because there are not many women at the position of
rule makers. Seldom, there is any female CEO of a corporate giant in the 21st century; the
situation could not be better in the 1950s. The other reason for this discrimination is that men do
not give birth to the child. Because of their masculine nature and crippling thoughts, men are