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Gender Roles In A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

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A Doll’s house, a play written by Henrik Ibsen was an interesting read and practically a glimpse of how women were treated in the 19th century. Ibsen’s inner nature was strongly in conflict with the role the 19th-century woman was called on to perform in the society (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). The daily life of women in the 19th century was that of many obligations and fewer choices, women were always being controlled by men first by their father, brother, uncle and then their husbands. For instance, Father’s would not educate their daughters or they would rather get a special kind of education such as those in sewing, catering or housekeeping to prepare them as “Angels in the house” with the sole idea that they would eventually become …show more content…

You can't deny it, my dear little Nora. [Puts his arm round her waist.]It's a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are!’’(Ibsen, 2008).
In contrast, in the 21st century, Men are no longer the sole breadwinner and women are no longer solely responsible for domestic activities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of stay-at-home dads increased by almost one million between 1989 and 2012 ("'The Future of Men' Explores Evolving Gender Roles). Additionally, men in the 21st century are even more comfortable marrying working-class women in order for them to be of some help in the household as opposed to the 19th-century men who bared all the financial responsibilities to themselves. Secondly, history has always denied women the fair chance in employment, legal employment for women in that era was very limited. For example, the protagonist Nora worked odd jobs such as embroidery and needle and her caretaker Annie Marie who had an illegitimate child but was forced to leave her child and take up a job with Nora’s family. This picture of women in the 19th century only seems preposterous today as more and more women are in the workforce and even hold leadership positions; examples of such women are, the former first lady of America Michelle Obama, former first lady and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and current mayor of Atlanta Keisha Bottoms to name a

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