EMPLOYMENT. You may have
noticed that very few of the women mentioned in To Kill a
Mockingbird's Maycomb are employed except for perhaps Miss Eula May, the
telephone operator, and Scout's teachers. These are stereotypical women's jobs of the
mid-20th century. Most of the women in the novel are either matronly, single women or
widowed, and we can only assume that they are living off family money. Such is not the
case today where women now make up a much larger percentage of the work
force.
SUFFRAGE. In 1930s
Alabama, women were still not allowed to serve on juries, as Atticus explains to Scout
in Chapter 23. Women now have equal voting and legal rights with men in the
USA.
RESPECT. The respect
earned by women in the 1930s is much different than in the 21st century. Although women
are now viewed as equals to men in most ways (particularly in legal and employment
matters), gender values were much different in the Thirties. Women were a gentler sex in
the eyes of men, and they were extended many more courtesies than women today. For
example, one of the crimes of which the young Boo Radley was charged was for "using
abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female." (Men's ears were
more suitable for such talk apparently.) Scout and Jem have both been taught to call
most of the neighborhood ladies "Miss," even though Maudie Atkinson is a
widow.
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