Gender Discrimination in Boys and Girls by Alice Munro

Gender roles/discrimmination has been known for a long time and even still exists today. In the story “Boys and Girls” written by Alice Munro, the main character faces hardships of breaking gender stereotypes while being surrounded by people who don’t support her decisions. In this short story, the main character who remains unnamed, wants to follow in her father’s footsteps in the fox farm business. This is a situation of a young lady who is in dispute between the job she needs to fill and the job that her sexual orientation fits her to do. She wants to fulfill her father's career by raising foxes for their pelts, which is usually a man's work. This idea makes her mom can't help but contradict the young lady's need to support her father. The mother pushes the girl to help her with duties in the house while her brother, Laird, is pushed with a greater job to help their father. The conflict in the story helps us understand the ongoing gender stereotype that the main character faces throughout her mission to find out what she truly wants to fulfill.

Alice Munro's assembly of an anonymous female character hero suggests that this character is without personality or to show the weakness/less importance of a woman. However, her sibling, is named. The youthful sibling Laird (which means lord) suggests that he, by excellence of his sexual orientation alone, is contributed with personality and is seen more highly to their family. This stereotyping in names alone implies that sex plays a significant role in the beginning of childhood to being grown up. This name symbolizes society's bias towards men and how the male kid was predominant to their parents. The way that the main character stays anonymous while her sibling was given the name Laird implies the distinction between the genders. The main character’s dreams that she can be helpful to her dad in his work is crushed when she understands society's view and desires for her. The girl needs to work with her dad out on their farm and likes the consideration that her dad gives her while working. This is demonstrated when a salesman goes to the ranch while the girl is helping her dad rake the new cut grass; her dad presents her as his 'new hired hand'.The salesman answers, 'Could of fooled me .. I thought it was only a girl.' If it had been her sibling, Laird, rather than the young lady then the circumstance would likely have been different. The salesman's answer clearly shows that everyone in this time period does think that what the main character is doing is odd. It’s also clear that the main character is not prepared to acknowledge and guarantee her responsibilities as a woman in society, basically in light of the fact that she wouldn't like to be the young lady the whole society anticipates that a girl should be. She is making a decent attempt to discover what her identity is, yet wouldn't like to do womanly duties such as staying in the house. Laird begins to take an interest in the men’s work of hunting and killing the horse, and the main character, while not yet embracing the work of her mother, is disengaging herself from her father’s work and turning toward the more feminine work of decorating her room. Neither of them sing songs anymore, even though the narrator continued to enjoy it, Laird began to stop. This is an example of both Laird becoming more masculine, because he no longer wants to sing songs, and the narrator becoming more feminine, because she so easily bows to her brother’s opinion. Laird has started to accept the role of being a“leader” instead of just being the younger brother and the narrator is taking other people’s opinions into consideration when deciding her actions, instead of just doing whatever she wants to do. From the beginning to the end of the story, the narrator undergoes a transformation from a child of the farm to a young woman. From my perspective, she does not start out as particularly masculine; she is more of a blank slate that is trying to rebel against what she views as an unfair society.

Although it is clear that the main character would much rather be with her dad, the family continually pushes the girl to be a girl that sticks to her gender role. The way that the storyteller adores her dad gives additional evidence of her attempt to break gender stereotypes. As time passes by, the weight from her family becomes harder to avoid. The main character's grandma appears to be the ideal case of how ladies were thought of. Having been brought up in a timeframe where the principles forced on ladies were considerably stricter, the grandma best voices what the mentality of a young lady should be. “'Girls don't slam doors like that.' 'Girls keep their knees together when they sit down.' The storyteller, does not give into the advice offered to her, and reacts with resistance. Much from that point onward, she continues to slam doors and sit in an unlady-like manner hoping that this would set her free. The main character isn't prepared to acknowledge and guarantee her role as a lady in society – an inclination that upsets her mom and it is right now, that the mother, knowingly makes the main character do duties in the house set up her for what is expected later on throughout her life. The young lady despite everything appears to accept that on the off chance that she doesn't fit in with society's principles, she can find her opportunity and by one way or another break this stereotype. The grandmother is from a time when there were significantly stricter standards for young ladies. The main character’s parents are less strict than the grandma and much less out-spoken. She voices what was instructed to her when she was a young girl. At the time period, young ladies were required to be humble and obedient, while a man was relied on to be the muscle and have a stronger appearance.

There is a prominent line in consideration to the obligations that young men and women have to expect put in a safe spot for male and females on the ranch and inside the house separately. The common generalizations in the book concerning the qualities of young men and young ladies, depict young men as predominant and forceful while young ladies stay uninvolved and quiet in accepting their jobs in the general public. To add on, the troublesome farm work and chasing/hunting of foxes is recommended to be the future responsibility of young men while house work is intended for young ladies. The main character enjoys lending a hand around the farm, which is a male’s job, and continually looking for approval from her father while getting more distant and avoiding her mom and grandma's advice for her to work in the house.

In the story, it is apparent that the main character’s parents are in account of their daughter’s attitude and perspectives with the issue of sexual orientation. The parents also encouraged gender roles by bringing up their kids dependent on social structures and standards ignoring the main character’s qualities and needs. Towards the start of the story, the main character has no view of sexual orientation qualities and jobs. However, through the ongoing bickering of her family, her mom specifically, begins to remove the standard jobs that she should accept as a young lady. Her mom discloses to her dad that he should hold back Laird until he gets more established with the goal that he can get genuine assistance on the homestead.'’Wait till Laird gets a little bigger, then you’ll have real help.'’The announcement undermines the main character’s duty as a young lady in the farm and shows the impact that parents have on the gender roles that their kids expect. It is clear that there is favoritism to the brother, Laird. Although the main character is breaking the gender stereotype, she is ignored and is told to accept or show the empathy towards what she should be doing as a female from her family, with the end goal that young ladies gain from their moms in regards to being a woman and female practices while young men take in the parts of manliness from their dads.