Rights and Roles

           Gender equality and roles within relationships have been continuously focused on in the recent pieces of literature. The rights and responsibilities of men and women have been endlessly questioned and analyzed. In A Doll's House the worth and personal rights of women are obviously presented in a critical way. Nora is introduced in such a a way that makes her out to be an ignorant, innocent, spoiled, and helpless little creature. Her inability to support herself in both monetary and emotional situations creates a superior male role as well as a useless female character. This inferiority is evident in Edna in The Awakening as well as Edna is not given the choice to decide for herself and instead is forced to live the life provided by her husband. Both works bring to light the struggles women have had to deal with and overcome over the years. Today, it is obvious that women have fought hard for independence and individuality that they rightly deserve. We still see women and men fighting every day for total equality in numerous areas including workers wages and issues such as rape. The unfair stereotypes and expectations for both men and female have come a long way but are still in need of improvement. While I do approve of and support the fight for equality, I believe the fight needs to be evened out a bit among the genders. There has been so much focus on women's rights that sometimes men are overshadowed and overlooked. Specifically, rape accusations are often overlooked when men are the victims and I feel this is going backwards from where society is today and should be taken far more seriously and equally between both genders.