Gender Roles In The Grapes Of Wrath

The Relevance of Gender Roles

In Michelle Bachelet’s words, “Gender equality must become a lived reality” she expresses that equality between two genders should be a reality rather than something that is simply wished upon. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck brings her quote alive by suggesting that when survival is at stake, gender roles become less relevant for the common good.

Men become less concerned with the gender barriers when hard work is given out. An example of this is when Jim Casey takes over Ma’s job of salting the pork. “‘Leave me salt down this meat’ he said. ‘I can do it. There’s other stuff for you to do’” (146). Jim Casey makes it evident that he doesn’t care what job is for women or men because he

Ma, Ruthie, and Rose of Sharon all show this when going out to pick cotton at the cotton fields to earn money. “Rose of Sharon sat in the middle, and Ma on the outside The girl’s eyes were lusterless again. “You shouldn’ of came,’ Ma said. ‘You didn’ pick more’n ten-fifteen pounds.”’(586). In the beginning of the Joads journey through California, only the men would go out to get work and bring back money for food or supplies. But as the story goes on, the women begin to pick up work other than general housework such as cleaning and cooking. They go out to pick peaches, cotton and other harvests in order for their family to have enough money to eat. The gender barrier once again crumbles at this example in The Grapes of Wrath with families lives being at stake. The men’s work and women’s work become less meaningful and everyone pitches in to survive for one more night. Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck shows the truth about work and gender roles with the examples of families travelling to California. His novel sets an example for Michelle Bachelet’s words on how gender roles become less pertinent to everyday lives. People become less aware of what should be feminine work and masculine work and their survival now becomes their first priority. The once divided work becomes fair game in order to stay alive, and the gender roles change for the