an inspector calls gender essay grade 9

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Of all the themes in an inspector calls, gender is the one that lends itself best to remembering that we read this play from three different time zones: 1912, 1945 and 2020., so when writing about gender in this play remember this:, the play is set in 1912 - before women even had the vote, it was written for an audience in 1945 - when women were an emerging social force, but you are reading it in 2020, during the fourth wave of feminism , and post #metoo, with this, however, it's also worth remembering that context - which is writing about 1912, 1945 or 2020 - is only worth 6 out of 30 marks, so be interested but don't dwell on it....

Women in 1912 - When the play was set

Women hadn't yet won the vote - that came in 1918. upper class women were expected to be docile, pretty and focused on the domestic environment. they should be good, loyal wives, and although rich women would mostly have had nannies to look after their children, the nannies would all be women as well., mrs birling is an interesting character as the stage directions note that she is her husband's " social superior ." this suggests that she was from an aristocratic background, but married below her, as birling owned a business and had the wealth. this wasn't unusual as the industrial revolution had seen a lot of ambitious people from lower classes become wealthy. often men who had become wealthy desired a wife of a higher class in an attempt to climb the social ladder themselves. despite being of a higher social class, mrs birling is often submissive to her husband's wishes - as would have been expected of her in 1912., sheila's reaction to eva is also telling. women have almost always been judged on their looks - the battle to change this continues today. and sheila's reaction to eva's prettiness - the fact that eva looked better that her in a dress that sheila liked - is complicated. she shouldn't have had eva sacked for laughing, but sheila also shouldn't have felt so dismayed that she wasn't as pretty as eva. in some ways, we should feel some sympathy for sheila who - for no fault of her own - was made to feel bad because of her face or body shape., we should also remember that, at the opening of the play, sheila is being married off to gerald so that her father can unify their business interests and achieve " lower wages and higher prices ." this wasn't dissimilar to the way that aristocratic families had used marriage as a way to bring families together for hundreds of years. sheila's role, in this respect, is just to look pretty and do as she's told., gerald and eric's trips to the palace bar reveal that although sexuality was still very repressed in british life, it had a seedy underbelly. the bar itself - which is ironically named - was where rich men would have gone to find the kind of women they could pay to have sex with. at the time prostitution was illegal - which meant a woman could be put in prison if she was caught trying to sell sex - so there was an illusion of seduction that would have taken place before any cash was exchanged. what gerald does, really, is maintain a sense that he's not paying for a prostitute when in fact he was. in many ways, eric's rape was a more honest expression of what was happening., really though, what was happening was that people like george birling were driving women into poverty so that their sons could take advantage of them when they were at their lowest. the system was setup so that women would fail, and they could then be used for their most fundamental commodity: sex., women in 1945 - when the play was written, during world war i, a third of male population of the uk went to fight. and over 700,000 of them never returned home. as a result, women had to step up to the plate and be counted - a task that women fulfilled. world war ii killed almost 900,000 men, and because that conflict was so much more complex the roles that women played were infinitely more involved. women became spies, data analysts, armaments manufacturers, farmers, code crackers and did - as with the men - anything that was asked of them to bring down the nazis., the world for women after the two world wars was a very different place., despite this, there would have been a certain number of voices who wanted to return to the 'good old days,' and priestley was determined that this shouldn't happen. throughout the play, he reminds the female members of the audience that they had been belittled and downtrodden prior to the wars, and through the character of sheila he shows that another world was possible., though eric does change, he lives in his sister's shadow. throughout the play sheila goes from being a kowtowed young woman who has to check " is this the ring you wanted me to have " and into a strong, wilful young woman who is prepared to call her parents the children, and - although she's very polite about it - return the ring her cheating finance had offered again., also, i can't help but feel that the women in the audience would have felt a real sense of camaraderie with eva - the voiceless, faceless girl who suffered immeasurably at the hands of the men around her. both wars were, after all, started and fought by men..., women in 2021 - context means today as well, feminism has come a long way since 1945 - first, second, third and fourth wave feminism have chipped away relentlessly and seen to it that young women today don't look at themselves in the same way they once did. however, the play itself is a relic of its time and while writing an essay about it you are encouraged to bring your own feelings to bear. here's a couple of notes that might be worth mentioning..., eva is called " pretty " 12 times in the play - that's four times in each act. so please remember that eva's tragic death was not heightened or lessened by how "pretty" she was. her good looks have no relevance to how sad we should feel. even the inspector calls her pretty repeatedly, and because he speaks with priestley's voice (and he never corrects this message,) we have to take away the idea that priestley somehow thought her good looks were relevant when they're not. it's as sad when pretty people die as it is when ugly people do - and beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway., it's also worth noting that the inspector (priestley) claims that eva - who had previously been starving - would have been happy working at milwards as she was " amongst the pretty clothes ." here, the inspector doesn't say that she was happy eating, or happy with the security of a home, or happy being able to see a future again but she was happy with "pretty clothes." is this an example of the inspector (priestley) belittling a women by presuming that she was happier with pretty clothes than she was by securing something more meaningful - like food, towards the end of the play sheila observes that gerald "came out of it better than the rest of us. the inspector said that." but take a moment to reflect on the fact that gerald took a girl who was starving and then "kept" her until he was finished and then kicked her out and ask yourselves whether or not you feel that behaviour makes him "better than the rest of us.", sheila does return the ring, very politely. arguably, however, she should have thrown it in his face and then had a strong word with both her parents about why they suddenly decided it was ok to marry their daughter off to a cheat and a liar, just because they wanted to further their business interests., please note : all of the above are, arguably, true - in that we can see the truth of them today. however, the play is a relic of its time and you should write your essays with an understanding of how it was written in 1945, with an attempt to present 1912, but you're reading it in 2020. times change, texts don't. they can only ever reflect the time they were from and your writing should show you understand this., key quotes and references, mrs birling: when you’re married you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. you’ll have to get used to that, just as i had. mrs birling reminds sheila of her place. as a quote this emphasises just how engrained the patriarchy was (the patriarchy is the social system that kept men in power) because in it we can see mrs birling almost teaching her daughter that she will have to accept being ignored in favour of business. however, at the end of the quote mrs birling does express some dissatisfaction, admitting that she had to "get used" to it, something which at least makes it clear that she didn't like the situation. the quote also, however, reminds us how hard men like birling had to work in order to build and maintain their businesses, suggesting that the system didn't entirely help them either., (half serious, half playful) “yes – except for last summer, when you never came near me” –sheila (act 1), suggesting that she doesn’t fully trust gerald , despite the fact that they’re going to be married soon, but again shows how she is childish, and relatively light-hearted, as she is still ‘half playful’ even in something which could be seen as quite serious., oh – gerald – you’ve got it – is it the one you wanted me to have, when sheila is given the ring, she asks gerald if it’s the one “you wanted me to have.” here, she completely removes the idea that she might have feelings about which ring she gets. this reflects both her position as a woman in a patriarchal society, and how, as a young girl, she still needs to have decisions made for her. it’s as if she wants to please other people so much that her own opinions don’t matter – this will change once her conscience is awakened by the arrival of the inspector., “these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people.” – sheila (act 1), priestly using sheila as his mouthpiece, in place of the inspector, and also highlighting the division between the generations further, and the moral aptitude of sheila. this shows that sheila is learning. she won’t see sheila in terms that are limited to her material worth to the company, but she sees them as people., mr birling: clothes mean something quite different to a woman…a sort of sign or token of their self-respect. the inspector: she enjoyed being among pretty clothes, i've no doubt., the first line here comes from mr birling in act 1, and as such is one that we are encouraged to mock - this is a man who thought the titanic was a great idea after-all. however, the inspector supports it later in the play when talking about sheila working in milwards suggesting that there is something more complex going on. does priestley think women are defined by their clothes, or is birling observing another kind of communication that exists amongst women as an attitude in the play, it's one that you're encouraged to have your own opinion on., gerald: eva was " young and pretty and warm-hearted - and intensely grateful. ", gerald describes eva in a manner that would leave some members of the audience a little uncomfortable. the first half of this quote is supposed to show eva in a positive light (though her tragedy was still tragic even if she was old, ugly and a bit sour) but the second half of it is quite shocking. of course she was grateful, gerald... she was starving and you fed her, used her, and then dropped her when you were done., inspector: and you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things, gerald asks that sheila be allowed to leave the room, to protect her fragile female sensibilities, but the inspector challenges him. if gerald really believed women should be protected, why did he not offer the same treatment to eva why was this poor working class woman treated as badly as she was by a society that also treated upper class women as though they were too fragile to leave the house here, the inspector reveals the hypocrisy at the heart of the patriarchal behaviour of upper class men., “ women of the town” – mrs birling (act 2), mrs birling is using a euphemism here to talk about prostitutes. her shock shows just how little she understands about her son or gerald; and how little she understands about working class life in general . this is especially telling in mrs birling as she runs the charitable institute. we have to ask why a woman who holds the views she does would run an institute for desperate women, if not solely to wallow in the power it gives her., “you and i aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here.” –sheila (act 2), again showing how she has matured enough to recognise that she has matured, and that both of the characters present have undergone great change (sheila and gerald), due to their confessions of involvement with eva smith, and this also shows how sheila has become rather perceptive over this play. h e re, because this follows her returning gerald's ring, it emphasises just how much she has grown as a person and as a woman. she now wants a little more from her life - in the same way that the women of 1945 were being encouraged to ask for a little more from theirs too, eric: i wasn’t in love with her or anything – but i liked her – she was pretty and a good sport, eric's description of his feelings for eva speaks volumes. he didn't love her but he wanted to marry her which shows a deep misunderstanding of the nature of relationships and love, and emphasises his immaturity. while the fact she's described as "a good sport" after presumably responding to his having raped her with a stiff upper lip, shows a quite staggering level of insensitivity. she's also called "pretty" again., “everything’s all right now, sheila” – gerald (act 3), he’s reverted back to his former patronising tone with sheila – so long as he wasn’t to blame for any suicides, he’s happy. gerald goes on to find out that inspector goole isn’t even part of the police force, and that eva smith/daisy renton doesn’t exist and seems more at ease than before, and doesn’t seem ‘shaken’ at all by the events that had taken place, and he seems to form an ‘alliance’ with the older birlings, by confirming the inspector wasn’t real, and shows that he was unable to change. over the course of the play, he changed to a more moral and humanistic person, but changed back to his former self, at the very chance of possibly being let off this crime. though it shows he expresses regret if it did happen, it shows that he doesn’t care if he wasn’t involved. in a nutshell: he thinks he got away with it, so he’s happy now., mrs birling: now just be quiet so your father can decide what to do, though she is her husbands "social superior" mrs birling knows her place. she leaves the room so the men can talk business as soon as dinner is over, and at the end of the play - in the quote above - she makes it clear whose responsibility it is to make the really tough decisions in their relationship..

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• 1 October 2021 18 October 2022
• 1 Comment on Gender in an inspector calls

In the previous article in these series on the themes on ‘An Inspector Calls’, we looked at the issue of class division and social responsibility being explored in the play and also some of the wider social and historical context which the play was set in.

Some of what was mentioned in that article,   which you can read by clicking on here , also touched upon the issue of the status of women.

Themes in ‘An Inspector Calls’: gender

In addition to the social inequality and class division that existed in Britain at that time there was also the relatively low status of women. Thus Eva Smith suffered not only for being part of the poor working class, reliant on the mercy of her employers (the Birlings in this case) for survival, but also for being a woman. After being sacked by Mr Birling for trying to improve workers rights, she later resorts to earning money through prostition and uses the pseudonym, Daisy Renton.

Whereas ‘Eva Smith’ is a reference to ‘Eve’ (mother of humanity and thus the archetypal woman, and Smith is a common English name, with Eva Smith thus being representative of the average British woman,  ‘Daisy’ is a flower (and when women lose their virginity they can be said to be ‘deflowered’) and ‘Renton’ seems to connect with the word ‘rent’, that is to be paid for financially. In other words Priestly is also highlighting the sexual exploitation of vulnerable working class women by men.

Eva is made pregnant by Mr Birling’s son, Eric, but unlike him is physically impacted by it as the unborn child is inside her womb whereas Eric could live as if nothing had happened, though he did try and support Eva financially. However she refused as he was trying to use money taken illegitimately from Eric’s father’s business, and despite her poverty Eva’s morality was such that she refused to take stolen money. Ironically Eva had approached Mrs Birling in the past after her pregnancy when she went to a charity headed by Mrs Birling.

She sought help but Mrs Birling refused angered by Eva using the name Mrs Birling (which Eva was to somewhat justified in using in the sense that the father of her child was Mr Eric Birling). Mrs Birling, the mother, tells the inspector in the play that a the father (who ironically is her son little to her knowledge) ought to have born the responsibility of helping to support Eva and the pregnant child. Shortly after it emerges that her son, Eric is the father.

What is clear here is how vulnerable and precarious Eva’s existence was and how dependent she was on the good will of people richer than her. There is theme of money and financial aid with her rejecting the money offered to her by Eric as it was stolen money but trying to get aid from Mrs Birling’s charity. Despite doing morally the right thing by refusing the money that was taken from Mrs Birling’s husband when Eva tries to get financial support from the charity she is refused. This ultimately of course contributes to her tragic ending.

It could be argued that Priestly is also seeking to draw attention to the role of not just society, including the more well off in society, but the state. Later on in modern Britain single mothers would receive governmental monetary support to raise their children but not in 1912 when the play was set.

Priestly is highlighting the vulnerability of women, thus our need as a society to help them.

Women in 1912

The situation of women in 1912 was different to that of the 1940s when the play was written. By the 1940s women in Britain had experienced mass employment outside of the house. This was not the first time, the same had happened during the first world war.

However twenty years later it was another generation, and by then at least two generations of women, and two generations of men had personally experienced or been involved in the reality of mass female employment which included changing the financial status of women as their earning power increased.

It was something that was irreversible and though it may seem somewhat archaic today in modern Britain, the concept of a woman being exclusively a housewife eroded and was ended.

Source: ww2today.com

A woman in 1912 was seen as subordinate to a man and socially this persisted for decades after. The famous British comedian Harry Enfield pokes fun at this in some of his sketches in his parody of the early twentieth century British gender roles of the English middle-class, where women are expected ‘to  know their place’ which includes to be secondary ornamental aids to their husbands but not to dare be ‘uppity’ and talk about ‘serious’ topics which are reserved for men. We can find examples of this in the play for instance when Mrs Birling says to her male family members in Act 1:

“I think Sheila and I had better go into the drawing-room and leave you men-“

This was in the context of the female family members retreating and allowing the men to talk about serious things. Thus women did not have a say or voice in important affairs not just in the play, which is an attempt to reflect 1912 Britain, and thus had little role in formulating the society which they were part of, which they lived in. Powerless, voiceless, weak and vulnerable, all adjectives which can in someways be applied to Eva Smith.

A famous BBC sketch on old fashioned attitude towards women in early 20th century Britain.

We also see Mrs Birling say of Eva:

“ “ She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position. “

Thus in this quote we can see both classism and sexism at the same time. ‘A girl in her position’. Position refers to her (Eva) social position as a working-class woman, and of course ‘girl’ refers to her gender. There is a supposition, a belief that a ‘girl’ and particularly of that social status should not be ‘uppity’ or have complex or ‘elaborate’ feelings. The working class ought to be simple and basic. Elaborate feelings are thus reserved for the rich. Everyone in that society has a designated role and place and there is little that they can do to challenge that or move out of it, i.e. social mobility.

Priestly however shows us that this dangerous and toxic cocktail of classism and sexism can be dangerous and have harmful consequences as we see in the death of Eva. He, similar to Dickens, provokes the sense of justice and morality amongst some in the affluent classes who would have seen this play and been appalled by the fate of Eva Smith and believed that such a thing could not be allowed to happen and on a fundamental level those deep social factors that contributed to her demise needed to be reformed.

To be fair Sheila does at one point attempt to point to the humanity of female workers when she says:

““But these girls aren’t cheap labour – they’re people” 

Sheila does seem to not fully agree with some of the ideas on class and gender roles prevalent at that time. This is in stark contrast to Mrs Birling who in the beginning of the play tells Sheila when she seems to be having a semi-humorous criticism of Gerald for being busy:

“Now, Sheila, don’t tease him. When you’re married you’ll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.”

This is another quote that shows how deeply ingrained the belief in fixed gender-roles for men and women were at that time with Mrs Birling telling her daughter to conform to established gender-roles.

Historical context, Britain before and after ‘An Inspector Calls’.

Ultimately the world view that Sheila had in the play with female workers being ‘people’ (having humanity and not just to be utilised for labour) prevailed. Womens rights progressed in the subsequent decades. The British had two female prime ministers in later generations, Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. However this was a result of centuries of long and hard struggle. A struggle which cannot be decoupled or delinked from the wider struggle of the working classes for greater rights. Though women were second-class citizens, so for centuries were the majority of their menfolk. Priestly shows however working class men could not seek to advance their rights and neglect the rights and status of women. The working class struggle had to embrace females.

Useful vocabulary for GCSE students in essays and exam questions.

• Misogyny – hatred of women.
• Misogynist – a man who hates women.
• Misogynistic – adjective of misogyny
• Patriarchal   –   a male dominated society
• gender-roles – The roles assigned to men and women in a society.

Example: ‘Priestly highlights the objectification of women as sex items with the words of the Inspector when he refers to Eric and  says:  ““just used her for the end of a stupid drunken evening, as if she was an animal, a thing, not a person,” (Act 3)”

• Suffragettes – a feminist movement of the early 20th century who campaigned for womens rights.
• Vulnerable – being weak and able to go through suffering easily e.g. Eva Smith was vulnerable.
• Conservative – old fashioned or seeking to maintain things as they are and prevent change, Mrs Birling can be said to be quite conservative.

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An Inspector Calls: A*/L9 Gender Essay Example

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

29 February 2024

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An A* / Level 9 / High grade essay on the theme of gender inequality in Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, written by a student. This resource also contains a series of tasks, targeted at helping students to understand essay composition and the examiner marking process.

This 3-page digital + printable pdf resource includes: THE QUESTION THE ESSAY BONUS MATERIAL

• 3 tasks and exercises targeted towards helping students to better understand the mark scheme, assessment criteria and essay structuring

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Everything you need to teach or study ‘An Inspector Calls’, including character analysis, a summary of the plot, themes and key context points, key quotations, plus lots of essay writing support and sample essays! Suitable for students at GCSE, IGCSE or A Level (Edexcel, AQA, OCR, CIE/Cambridge, CCEA, WJEC, Eduqas). Teaching or studying An Inspector Calls? Have a resource on us! [Download An Inspector Calls - Character Analysis](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12806399) for FREE to see whether the full bundle is suitable for you! This bundle includes digital + printable pdf resources which cover the following: Plot Summary Themes Key Quotations + Stage Directions Setting + Performance Context Genre Essay Questions Essay Planning A* / L9 Example Intro + PEE Paragraph BONUS MATERIAL: EXAMPLE ESSAYS A* / L9 Example Essay on Gender Inequality A* / L9 Essay Example on Class B/L6 Grade Essay Example on Class A/L7 Grade Example Essay on Responsibility A full breakdown of the characters in An Inspector Calls, with a set of tasks tailored towards helping students to understand and analyse them more deeply. This ** 9-page digital + printable pdf resource** includes: MR BIRLING MRS BIRLING THE INSPECTOR EVA SMITH SHEILA ERIC GERALD BONUS MATERIAL + 4 Varied Tasks + Exercises You may also be interested in: Our [COMPLETE AQA Language Paper 1 BUNDLE ](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12542887). Our [COMPLETE AQA POWER + CONFLICT BUNDLE](http://https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12462323) For more English literature and language resources, view [OUR SHOP](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/ntabani) here! Please review our content! We always value feedback and are looking for ways to improve our resources, so all reviews are more than welcome.

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