Gender_Roles_After_The_Potato_Famine

Gender Roles After The Potato Famine Gender Roles After the Potato Famine Literature often distinguishes the roles of men and women, defining appropriate behavior within the context of the culture in which it is written. Throughout the changes of society these roles continually transform in accordance with the modernization of traditions. The devastation of the Potato Famine of 1845 brought numerous changes, including political uprisings, social unrest, and economic decline. The catastrophic effects forced many Irish men and women to abandon their previous lifestyles and gender specific behaviors for survival purposes. Asenath Nicholson’s and Henry Mayhew’s articles concerning the social and cultural effects of the famine display the differences in pre-famine and post-famine masculine and feminine behavior. Gender roles are still very much a part of many present-day cultures, varying in strictness and severity of the societal expectations. During pre-famine times in Ireland appropriate behavior varied slightly depending on class. Those raised in the upper class echelon were expected to preserve the gallant gentlemanly and ladylike behavior of their ancestors while those in the lower classes were less poised and pretentious. These lower class people, however, did extend hospitality to those of equal and higher rank. The women, for example, women, men, famine, nicholson, behavior, irish, class, children, social, roles, mayhew, effects, changes, while, times, never, lower, forced, economic, behaviors, appropriate, unable, taking, survive, survival, streets, street, pre-famine, potato, people, often, mayhew’s, man, life, impoverished