Alex C

Kale P.6

HWOC

4-4-19

Sexism and To Kill a Mockingbird

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee a lot of problems occur in the small

town of Maycomb, Alabama which is set in the 1930s. These problems ranged from racism and

to trying to escape from the infamous “Boo Radley”, but one problem that is seen constantly

throughout the story is sexism. Throughout the story, sexism is portrayed in many different

forms, but it mainly appears through the main character, Scout Finch. She gets told countless

times that she can’t do what she wants to because of gender norms in the 1930s. Even though

sexism has been less of an issue today, it was unimaginable with all of the stereotypes and norms

with how it was back in the 1930s.

Sexism is seen a lot throughout the story, but it most often applied to the protagonist

Scout Finch. Throughout the whole story, Scout has been told that she can’t wear what she wants

and that she should “be in a dress and camisole” and that she has to “[Start] behaving like [a

girl]”(Lee 101, 47). Scout had all these expectations constantly pressured on her and “felt the

starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on [her]”(Lee 136). All of these

expectations make her feel like she has to wear a dress and stay inside instead of going on

adventures like she would like to or else she is afraid that people would look down on her for

acting against the norm. Her Aunt Alexandra is a good example of trying to change Scout

because many times throughout the story, she tries to get her to wear dresses and act ladylike.
Therefore, Scout is being forced into the societal norms of how girls should behave when she

just wants to be herself.

There has been a lot of change since the 1930s, but sexism can still be found in society

today. In an article written by the BBC, it talks about sexism and bullying in the medical

environment. Two doctors have shared some examples that have happened which includes: being

touched, called names, and receiving sexually explicit material from coworkers. These are just

only a few examples that the doctors have listed off, but imagine what else could’ve happened

too. On top of that, this is just a single experience from only one hospital, most likely there are

probably many more hospitals that encounter this kind of harassment and maybe worse, and

people might be too afraid to speak about it. In another article by The New York Times, it

discusses how women that are born in certain areas tend to be discriminated more than others

born somewhere else and is more likely to affect how they work, and how much they earn as an

adult. They state that women born in the south are more likely to be discriminated than women

being born on the west coast. This shows that sexism doesn’t just happen in the workplace, but it

can happen anywhere including the town or family you grew up with.

While many people can agree that sexism is still an issue today, it has been less serious

than it was many, many years ago. Throughout my three years at middle school, two of those

three years I had a sexist PE teacher. Almost every day she would discriminate the boys by

constantly making remarks or trying to get us in trouble for every little thing that we did, and if

the girls did something wrong she could practically care less. Before we started any activity in

PE, she would make us sit down in a group, so she could explain what to do before we started. It

sounds fine, but when girls started to talk with one another in a group of 5 or 6, she didn’t take

any action whatsoever to stop it apart from every now and then when she told them to quiet
down. The boys, on the other hand, had it much different. She would constantly reprimand us to

stop talking when one person made a small comment to someone and nothing happened to the

girls while they had a full on conversation. Her way of punishing the two genders was very

different, even if the same situation were to happen. One of my friends during the volleyball unit

accidentally hit the ball too hard, and it hit one of the lights. He got yelled at for it about not

following instructions and then had to sit out for the rest of the period. A few days later, a girl

did the exact same thing and was only told not to do it again and she was scot-free. Another

example of how she discriminated was by dropping one of my friend’s grades because he had to

adjust his spin bike in order for his knees not to hit the handlebars because of his height. He got

off his bike for less than 10 seconds, fixed the handlebars, and was then approached saying he

wasn’t going to be receiving full credit for not following instructions. I had to endure this for two

out of my three years at my middle school.

Since the 1930s sexism has seen many changes and improved in a variety of ways.

Women are less expected to live up to unrealistic expectations such as cooking and constantly

cleaning. Now women can dress and do what they want and aren’t locked down to a few select

actions by society. People might still disagree that it is still a serious issue but comparing it to the

1930s and the present, there have been many visible changes. Overall, sexism has gotten better

throughout many years from wearing dresses and staying inside to going out to work and

enjoying themselves.

Work Cited
Triggle, Nick. “Sexism, Bullying and the NHS.” BBC News, BBC, 3 Apr. 2019,
www.bbc.com/news/health-47774648.

Tankersley, Jim. “How Sexism Follows Women From the Cradle to the Workplace.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 19 Aug. 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/business/sexism-women-birthplace-workplace.html.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Warner Books. 1987. Print.