Gender Roles in Utopian Societies

Although Utopian societies create an ideal sense of what society should be like, not all Utopian societies share the same beliefs when it comes to overall gender roles. The male may come off as the stronger, wiser individual, whereas the female is the more fragile character in the background. We wonder if the roles could reverse or how can these roles differ in certain societies. In Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, males play the dominant role when it comes to society, whereas in Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy focuses on female-dominated aspects of society.

Utopia by Sir Thomas More depicts men to be the deciders when it comes to creating a family of their own. In the section Of Their Slaves and Of Their Marriages, More begins the idea of marriage with this Utopia’s goal: “Their women are not married before eighteen, nor their men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage they are severely punished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them, unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince” (More, 91). This quote entails that the man must be older than the woman when marrying; there is no variety of age gaps between couples and the fact that the male is older gives off a sense of dominance.

When the males choose their wives, they choose based off of body appearance. More states “Before marriage some grave matron presents the bride naked, whether she is a virgin or a widow, to the bridegroom; and after that some grave man presents the bridegroom naked to the bride” (92). Males are also shown dominant in which they have to see their potential wives nude first, and then if they think the woman is in good shape, he can then show off his nude body to her. The male is comparing the w...

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... it would be nice to be paid equally, we have to think about how it’ll affect our society’s economic system. It should not be based on sex, however, but on the type of work and skills that the workers have. Some women may choose to be stay-at-home moms and not carry another job, but being a mother is a job itself when you are taking care of young children. Overall, we need to take into account how women sometimes may not be appreciated as they want to be.

In Utopian societies, gender roles are perceived differently, whether the society is more oriented towards male power or if males and females share an equal power. Utopia and Looking Backward gave two different views of gender roles and how they build societal values. They give us a view on what type of world we may be living in and what we can improve our society, even if the said society may not be realistic.