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Jane Eyre’s Struggle for Gender Equality in the Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

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Jane Eyre’s Struggle for Gender Equality in the Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Winda Rosita Dewi
10211144022

Jane Eyre’s Struggle for Gender Equality in the novel Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Bronte

Equal is being the same in quantity, size, degree, value or status (Oxford Dictionary). From that definition, it can be said that equality is something that usually some people looking for, to show that their status are also same with the others. The inequalities are usually felt by women, because of their gender is related with something that weak, slow, home, and so on. Society likes to think of males as dominant, aggressive, educated, and ambitious; it thinks of women as submissive, passive, less-educated, emotional, and pleased to serve their male spouses. Women usually feel the unequal treatment, where they are always reputed as weak, defenseless and so on. This opinion put women’s status right under men; it means that women’s status is lower than men. However, actually, the truth is that women and men are the same human being, women could feel what men feel and so do the opposite. The assumption that women’s status is lower than men are actually can be denied by seeing that some women can get high education, they can get a high position in government and they also can get a good job like what men do. Because women nowadays are not the same with women in the past that majority of them are just staying at home, cooking, and washing clothes and so on. This problem is same with Jane Eyre’s problem as the main character in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. She is an orphan girl that living with her aunt and her children. From the beginning, Jane Eyre has felt the unequal treatment from her aunt to her if compare to her aunt own children. She treats Jane awfully and always blames Jane even if actually her own children that makes the mistakes. After she leaves her aunt home, then she studies in the Lowood School for females orphans. After studying as a student for about six years and becomes a teacher for two years, she gets a job as a



References: Jane Eyre novel by Charlotte Bronte Ruthven, K. K. 1984. Feminist Literary Studies: An Introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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