The Role of Women
During the 19th century, one major priority of women was marriage. In most cases women married for attraction and social status. It was hardly for true love. At times cases of happiness within the marriage context was purely based on whether the female was beautiful and lively. The boy, on his part was supposed to be competent and handsome. Jane Austen could not come terms with the fact that happiness within marriage could be based on attraction. On her part, she believed that it should be based on pure love. She states that the consequences of marriages that are based on personality liking together with class factors can easily lead to misery and shame (Austen 78).
Jane Austen sees the need for women to be provided with an opportunity to choose their future husbands. The ultimate morals of the society of the time is broken by Austen when she states how wrong it is to make marriage an investment and insists that love should be the basis of any form of relationship.
Austen makes use of the relationships of various characters in the text to precisely satirize the caucus of marriage. She contradicts the known ideals and customs of the society. And to drive his point home, she puts attention to a number of essential courtships which provide a backdrop of true love, for instance Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
Austen strengthens on the fact of the time that women needed to make marriage their first precedence. I her book, Pride and Prejudice, Austen is wary of women who are intellectually gifted. She alleges that cleverness was a major hindrance in the mission for matrimony. She says that she boasts herself to be, with the entire narcissism, the far much unlearned as well as uniformed woman who usually had the guts to be authoress. Austen sees the need to seek the approval of men before they feel comfortable with their level of intelligence (Austen 102).
The position of women in the contemporary society is different. They are not viewed in terms marriage and giving birth of children. The involvement and contribution of women in various segments of the economy is highly endorsed. The potential of a woman to have control of her reproductive ability is essential for her to be an equal partner within a community. She has the freedom to pursue a career and be able to achieve personal intimacy. She can only resort to marriage when she feels she is ready and willing.
In the modern society, a woman has the freedom to choose between affairs of personal intimacy and equal partnership. A woman who is willing to pursue cost-effective contribution or to achieve personality growth as well as greater maturity is free to sacrifice her intimate relationship. Women are also at liberty to the implementation of intimate relationships without the intrinsic responsibility to have children. In doing that, it confirms the inherent responsibility of the act of child bearing as a purely personal choice.
Conclusion
The contribution of women in the society, just like that of men, need to be recognized. Women should be viewed as equal partners and be provided with equal opportunities to nurture their ambitions. A Community that treats both partners with equal dignity prospers in various aspects of developments. However, in trying to struggle for their rights, modern women have gone to the extent of demanding for the change of roles. This should never be the case. It has to be clear the changing of roles should not be the way to go. Duties need to be shared and the freedom of participation in various facets of development should exist.
Work Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Bantom Books, 2003.