Attitudes to Women
English Lit: AQA GCSE An Inspector Calls, topic 2.1.6
Society's Expectations of Women
An Inspector Calls was set in 1912. At that time, even upper-class women had few options in life and were expected to behave in certain ways:
Expectations of upper-class women
- In this patriarchal (male ruled) society, even upper-class women had very few options in life.
- They were raised to be well-educated. Their role was to make their fathers, and then husbands, look good.
- They showed off their husband’s or father’s wealth by dressing in the finest fashions, and throwing and going to the best social events.
Women in conversations
- Women were not even supposed to hear serious conversations – Mrs Birling and Sheila leave the dining room to let the men to talk about serious issues.
- Mr Birling later tries to send Sheila away when the Inspector arrives. He does this because he does not think she should listen to serious, unpleasant topics.
Eva Smith
Priestley didn’t just choose a lower-class person. He chooses a lower-class woman to be the focus of his story. He did this to highlight inequalities for this long-suffering part of society.
Society's treatment of Eva
- Society did not value Eva Smith at all because she was a lower-class woman.
- She only had a few options for improving her life.
- Society did not really care about the lower class, so people needed jobs to be able to live.
Employment struggles
- When Eva keeps losing jobs (because of the Birlings), she doesn’t have many options. She needs to earn enough money to eat and have a roof over her head.
- It's implied that she turned to prostitution after she was fired from her job
- When she turns away from that, and is then rejected from Mrs Birling’s charity, she truly has no options left.
Male treatment of Eva
- Throughout the play, men use and dismiss Eva.
- People think she is morally corrupt because she is of the lower class and female.
Treatment of Eva Smith
Here's how the Birlings and Gerald treat and abuse Eva Smith, a lower-class woman, and women in general:
Mr Birling
- Mr Birling sees women as expendable (aren’t needed) – he feels that he can just hire others when the ones he employs become a problem.
Mrs Birling
- Mrs Birling turns Eva away from the charity.
- She does this partly because Eva used Mrs Birling’s name as her own.
- But Mrs Birling also does this because she refuses to believe that a lower-class woman could have any morals (and would refuse stolen money). She thinks Eva must be lying.
Gerald
- Gerald uses Eva for sex because she is young and pretty – He feels that he can use her as long as he wants, and even thinks that he is helping her.
Eric
- Eric forces himself on Eva.
- He threatens to cause problems for her if she doesn’t let him into her home where he will have sex with her.
Test yourself on Attitudes to Women
Which one of these was not an expectation of upper-class women in early 20th century Britain?
Which of these are true about Eva?
It's implied that Eva tries to make money through what after being fired from her job?
Who or what does Eva turn to for financial help?
Which of these characters does not force themselves on Eva or use her for sex?