Pride and Prejudice Gender Roles

The continued setbacks for modern females can be viewed through the character of Jane Bennet. The independent mind of Elizabeth was not inherited from her older sister Jane because although intelligent, beautiful and cultured, Jane has little say in her life’s direction. Given the almost non-existent economic prospects for women in the late 18th century, Jane, the eldest Bennet daughter, finds herself at the mercy of Charles Bingley’s flakiness. Her chance at a fulfilling life is tied to his want to marry her. If he, or more particularly his friend and sister, finds her family to be too needy and high maintenance then she appears destined for a less enriching existence. She has no recourse, other than inner strength, to change this outlook. Today, thankfully females as intelligent and well put together as Jane Bennet have far more options. In most cases these options are being taken advantage of by females, but in at least one case they have stayed almost as helpless as Jane.

As stated in the excerpt from Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, “Women hold around 14% of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions and about 17% of board seats, numbers that have barely budged over the last decade,” all this despite “women [continuing] to outpace men in educational achievement.” Educational achievement should lead to higher success in the work world but for females it is not, at least not when the highest paying jobs are up for grabs. Sandberg attributes part of this reality to a workplace that seems to institutionally help males but the other part she attributes to females not being willing to “lean in” and demand what is rightfully theirs. Their talent and intelligence dictates that they should be hired for the same positions and paid the same amount as their male counterparts. However, many women are letting the idea that they cannot be a success in the business world, while at the same time being a good mother, get in the way of fostering the equal pay for equal skill ideal. Sandberg states,

“In a survey of Princeton’s class of 2006, 62% of women said they anticipated work/family conflict, compared with 33% of men—and of the men who expected a conflict, 46% expected that their wives would step away from their career track…among professional women who take time off for family, only 40% return to work full time.”

Females today may not be as helpless as Jane, but they too seem to be at the mercy of male maneuvering. A demand for a more understanding and progressive workplace is the next step for females to pull away from their Jane situation.

Proprietor of Pemberley, provider for his sister Georgiana, and protector of both his sister and the reputation of the Bennet family, Mr. Darcy is the epitome of the male as provider for and protector of the female, a quintessentially male gender stereotype during his time and a lingering male gender stereotype in the current one. While the majority of females have become their own provider and protector or at least feel like they could be, many males have held fast to the idea that this is their role. They are still stuck on the idea that they need to be the main breadwinner in a marriage and the physically superior protector in any relationship.

In “Changing Gender Roles in Marriage,” Fredric Neuman, M.D. states, “Where a couple live is still more likely to depend on where the husband works, rather than were the woman works. The man is likely better paid.” A higher salary and more control over where the family lives allows the male to retain his feeling of being the main provider and protector of his family. Both the geographical and financial realities of Neuman’s statement are happening even though more females attend and graduate from college than males and will, therefore,