Final Paper

The differences in the work and lifestyle of men and women is extremely dynamic and
has made major changes throughout the years. The societal expectation of men and women of
present times would not be acceptable in past times, and those of past times would be upsetting
and disturbing in present times. The differing roles are represented well in folktales, which have
been revised with the times to follow societal norms. The gender roles presented in original
folktales differ from the gender roles of today due to the ways in which peoples views changed
as society modernized. Due to these modern ways of thinking, revisions can be made to these
folktales to make them align with the norms of present day societys view on gender roles. These
points will be shown by discussing the historical changes in gender roles and the roles in modern
society, the abrupt shift in these roles observed within my family, folktales with a distinct female
character, folktales with a man and woman character together, and scary tales.
The history of gender roles and societal expectations was and still is intensely
charismatic. Gender role is defined as the pattern of masculine or feminine behavior of an
individual that is defined by a particular culture and that is largely determined by a childs
upbringing (dictionary.com). The differences between men and womens expectations used to
be very clear cut, but has today become much more of a grey area. This clear cut can be easily
described in a statement found in The Encyclopedia of Adolescence, stating that,
The classic conceptualizations of the male gender role associates it with
instrumental/agentic behaviors and traits that reflect independence, assertiveness, and
dominance; the female gender role has been associated with expressive behaviors and
traits that reflect sensitivity to others and communality. (Levesque, 2011, 178)

This view has held true for a long time, and even though the roles may be different today, this is
the view that most people consider when comparing the differing genders. With this being a
generalized statement describing gender roles, there have been specific changes in societal views
throughout history. In the early 1600s the women served as the matriarchs of domestic
household, responsible for being the family caregiver; the wife and the mother and manager of
the husbands property. The gift of knowledge was of no value to women and any literate female
could have been suspect for witchcraft. Young girls were taught domestic crafts recommended to
keep young girls minds away from sinful thoughts or avoid any other danger of extreme
boredom (Price, 43). The men of this time were thought of as the breadwinners, acting as the
husband, father, and provider. They covered the outdoor work and often worked in fields to
provide food and money for the family. They held the career positions and controlled the
economic roles in society. They were the land owners and provided the homes in which the
wives would upkeep. These roles held true even before these times with the traditional huntergatherer system of ancient society. The men were the hunters and provided the meat for the
families to eat, while the women would gather the plant portion of the food and care for the
village and children. Once colonies were established in America, gender roles began to quickly
change. Although they started out the same as these later times, women began receiving more
rights and a larger role in society. With this increase in role, they soon began working out of the
home. These expectations can be compared to those of modern day society. Today, women fill
much of the mens roles. They receive the same education and can go out for the same jobs.
Women can vote, marry whomever they choose, and take part in whichever activities they wish.
Men are more involved in their childrens upbringing and it is not uncommon to see a husband
who takes care of the home while the wife provides the income. This is the same for roles

represented in folktales. In original tales, almost all heroes are male, while women are usually
shown filling passive roles. One reason for this may have been that men were usually the ones
sharing the stories. In Eesti Muinasjutud, author Richard Viidalepp states it is worth mentioning
that men constitute the majority of the storytellers (Malk, 1967: 485). Many folktales present
prestigious men fighting off danger or picking their bride from a pool of beautiful women. It is
rare to see a female protagonist who outshines the men of the story. This, however, has begun to
change. Since fairytales are not set in stone, they can be modernized from generation to
generation. New versions of the most famous tales are created as the times change to represent
the new societal expectations between men and women. Some of these changes involve women
becoming the heroes and tales with female protagonist who outdo the males of the story. Others
involve women holding important positions or being the main character in a story above the men.
Regardless of the type of tale, it is clear to see that the gender roles of the past are long gone, and
the stories passed from generation to the next are changing with the times.
Differing gender roles are very prevalent in tales involving step mothers and step
daughters. Two tales that demonstrate these roles well are Cinderella and Sweetheart
Roland, both by the Grimm Brothers. In these tales there is a mistreated step daughter instead of
a step son. This may be because the daughters were thought of to be weaker than sons.
Weaker refers to the idea that the daughter were more likely to do as they were told regardless
what the chore was, while sons were more likely to fight back against things they didnt want to
do and present more of a stubborn personality. The step mother in both tales is the evil figure
whom assigns the household chores for the daughter to do. This role is filled by the mother
because she is thought of as caretaker of the house. One main way that the mistreated daughter is
portrayed is through the description of her clothing, which is a womanly trait. In Cinderella,

she is given and old grey bed gown and wooden shoes, while in Sweetheart Roland, she wears
a beautiful apron which the other sister is jealous of. In both tales the daughter is not to leave the
home because it is their place of work. The tales begin to differ from here on out, but they both
still represent gender roles well. In Cinderella, the girls go to the festival in order to be
presented to the men and the prince then chooses his wife. This pairs well with the way of
society during this time period, where marriages were arranged through extravagant events like
festivals and balls. During these times many dances would be held at these events and each man
would dance with each woman and the men would then choose which they prefer. However,
Cinderella has a hard time getting to the festival due to her household chores, the main one
involving food (lentils). This chore may have been chosen because it parallels well with what
kind of work women were expected to do at this time, and taking care of the home and food was
above all else. Once at the ball, Cinderella impresses the prince with her beautiful dress and
slippers given to her by her mother. This also agrees with the roles of this time that the women
were to present themselves in a very attractive way in order to be accepted by the men.
Sweetheart Roland differs in the way that there is no ball to attend, and the girl already has a
man, named Roland. The mother tries to kill the girl in her sleep but fails to do so. Her attempt
is made using an ax, which may be the reason for her failure. An ax is used for chopping wood,
which was thought of as the man of the houses job, meaning that it was something the mother
should not have been using. The girl meets up with Roland and he takes her outdoors to flee. The
mother fails to catch them outside because, being caretaker of the home, this is not an
environment she is familiar with. When Roland ends up finding a new woman and the girl ends
up in the shepherds home, she takes on the female roles there, attending to all of his household
chores. It is not until she goes to Rolands wedding party that he once again chooses to be with

her. There are many modern variations that can be made on both of these tales to make them
more aligned with the gender roles of modern society. In Cinderella, there are recent variations
that show the character depicted as Cinderella going after the man she wants instead of him
searching for her. This demonstrates that men no longer just pick which woman they wish to be
with. Also, these modern variations do not include a ball or festival of any sort. Instead they
usually feature a school dance or party. Sweetheart Roland can also be modernized in several
ways. One way may be that the girl does not need Roland to take her outside to flee. Girls of
modern times are much more familiar with the outdoors and do not need to be escorted by a man.
Also, when she lives with the shepherd who finds her she could have taken on some role other
than taking care of his home. Tales featuring primarily female characters tend to be very
stereotypical towards the gender roles of this times. These variations offer ways to remove the
stereotypes and make the tales more reader friendly to todays audience.
There are also several tales that demonstrate gender roles through a very obvious
separation of female and male societal importance. Two of these tales are Deer Hunter and
White Corn Maiden and Hansel and Gretel. In the first tale, a young boy living in the village
is given the title Deer Hunter. He is given this name because he never returns from a hunt
empty handed. A male fills this role because it is their job in society to work outside of the home
and provide for the village. A girl is given the title White Corn Maiden. She is given this title
because she made fine pottery and beautifully embroidered clothing. These are domestic jobs
that are done inside of the home, which is what was expected of females at this time. This tale is
an Indian Tale which is why it follows the theme of hunter/gatherer well. When the Deer Hunter
and the White Corn Maiden wanted to be together, they gave up their roles, and the village
suffered. This demonstrated that by refusing to do what is expected of you by society, the village

as a whole will suffer, and cannot continue on. Variations can be made on this tale to make it
more modern. The main variation is that the male and female character could reverse roles. This
is because women are now more than capable of hunting and being the hunter portion of a
hunter/gatherer society, and men are capable of doing the domestic chores in the village and
being the gatherer of a hunter/gatherer society. Hansel and Gretel is a similar tale in which
there is a clear distinction between the male and female roles. Although both children act as
heroes in this tale, they do so in very different ways. Hansel is always the hero in the outdoor
environment. It is his idea to collect rocks to make a path, and it is him who finds the way back
to their home. However, when he tries to make a path using bread, which is usually associated
with females, his plan fails and he cannot make it back. Once in the witchs home, he is useless
and unable to help Gretel. Gretel, on the other hand, is lost and scared in the woods and relies
solely on her brother to get them back to their house. Once they arrive at the witchs home,
Gretel takes on the hero role. She ends up killing the witch using an oven, which is associated
with cooking. She feels most helpful and useful while inside the home. The witch also aligns
with the typical gender roles by using food to entice children into her home, and killing using the
process of cooking. Variations can also be made on this tale to make it more modern. The main
variation is that the brother and sister could have worked together instead of having a clear
distinction of roles. Both characters are capable of being helpful in the woods and inside of the
witchs house. By working together, they may have had an easier time escaping, instead of one
characters having to struggle when they were outside of their comfort zone. In tales like these,
where a male and female character are presented side by side, it is easy to see the gender roles
that are expected in that times society. By offering these variations, these tales become more
acceptable for both genders to read and observe.

Throughout time almost all scary stories and tales have followed a similar theme
regarding gender roles. It is most common to see the male character being the one doing the
scaring while the female character is the one being scared. This theme is seen not only in
historical tales, but modern ones as well. The characters are this way for several reasons.
Throughout history women have been viewed as being weak and more innocent than men. It is
for this reason that they take on the roles of the helpless character in scary stories. Men are
thought of as the stronger gender who has more control. This allows them to take on the role of
the antagonist in scary stories because they are able to control the females feelings and emotions
In the story The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs these themes are well represented. The
female character in this story is a young girl who is portrayed as a babysitter, which follows with
the idea of the woman being the caretaker of the children. The male character is the murderer
who kills the children that are being babysat. This follows with the theme of the male being the
evil character in a scary story. Several revisions can be made on this story to make it parallel
better to modern gender roles. First, the babysitter can be made a male. This is because it is now
very common to see both male and female teenagers taking on the job of being a babysitter.
Second, the babysitter could have defended herself better. Females are no longer viewed as being
so helpless like they have in the past and, because of this, there are many ways she could have
taken action against the man upstairs. Third, the man who turned out to be a murderer could have
been made a female. It is not uncommon to see females filling these roles today, especially in
modern scary movies. Another scary story representing these gender roles is The Killer in the
Backseat. Similar to the previous discussed story, this tale involves a female character who ends
up having a male killer in the backseat of her car. The character is, again, a female because
females provide the innocent and helpless persona that is appealing in a scary story. The

character who tries to save her is a male. This shows that females are thought of as needing a
male to save them from the evils in life. By having a male attempting to help her it furthers her
helplessness. Variations can be made to this story to modernize it. First, the car driver can be
made a male. This is because it is no longer just females who show up as the character being
scared in these types of tales. Second, the man saving the driver could be a female. This is
because females are now filling many of these hero type roles, not only in tales and stories, but
also in real life situations. Third, the savior character can be removed from the story all together.
The female character could have been made smart enough to be able to tell that there was a man
in the back of her car, and she could have done something about it. Scary stories may be the most
stereotypical types of tales regarding gender roles. Although modern changes to these stories are
made in movies and TV shows, many written tales remain the same, which is why by offering
these variations, the tales can appeal to the present times without the worry of offending one
gender or the other.
In conclusion, it is clear to see that the times have changed and the gender roles of the
past would not be tolerated today. Most folktales have been written to follow with these past
societal views, but, since a folktale is often told by word of mouth, they can be modified and
modernized. By developing variations to these famous tales they become more relatable to the
people of present times who are reading them and sharing them with others. These points have
been demonstrated by describing the changes in gender roles over time, by sharing the shift in
roles observed within my family, and by discussing various types of tales and offering variations
that could be made.

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