What do you believe to be the three most important facts about 19th century Norway?

1. Women were not supposed to borrow money without their husband’s consent
2. Women were not supposed to have a “duty to themselves”
3. Very much patriarchal

Why do you think the concept of respectability became more important as the middle class expanded?

Because they had reputations and expectations of how to act and no one wanted to stand out. As the middle class expanded and more people were expected to uphold an image, it was even more obvious if someone didn’t fit in and the consequences of that were greater because there was a larger number of people believing that they had to be a certain way.

“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” Henrik Ibsen, 1878.

Henrik Ibsen was a playwright who wrote “A Doll’s House”, which we are currently looking at in class. As you can see from this quote, he believed that women shouldn’t have to live in a world that was dictated by men. Every person in society is forced to see through a man’s perspective, instead of seeing it from an equal perspective where both women and men are the same.

I believe that this is still very much relevant to today. I believe that for a time, everyone thought that the problems with women’s rights were resolved and much better than they were before. Not until recently were things brought to light and our society began to realise just how much our lives are manipulated by men. Many women came out saying that they were manipulated (sexually as well as in other ways) by men and that they still don’t have the same rights, even after such a long time. I think that it’s ridiculous that women can’t be seen as equally as smart, strong, powerful, etc.

“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” Henrik Ibsen, 1878.

Henrik Ibsen was a playwright who wrote “A Doll’s House”, which we are currently looking at in class. As you can see from this quote, he believed that women shouldn’t have to live in a world that was dictated by men. Every person in society is forced to see through a man’s perspective, instead of seeing it from an equal perspective where both women and men are the same.

I believe that this is still very much relevant to today. I believe that for a time, everyone thought that the problems with women’s rights were resolved and much better than they were before. Not until recently were things brought to light and our society began to realise just how much our lives are manipulated by men. Many women came out saying that they were manipulated (sexually as well as in other ways) by men and that they still don’t have the same rights, even after such a long time. I think that it’s ridiculous that women can’t be seen as equally as smart, strong, powerful, etc.