AIC theme- Sex

AIC theme- Sex

Because Eva was a woman - in the days before women were valued by society and had not yet been awarded the right to vote - she was in an even worse position than a lower class man.
1. Even upper class women had few choices. For most, the best they could hope for was to impress a rich man and marry well - which could explain why Sheila spent so long in Milwards.
For working class women, a job was crucial. There was no social security at that time, so without a job they had no money.
1. There were very few options open to women in that situation: many saw no alternative but to turn to prostitution.
Mr Birling is dismissive of the several hundred women in his factory: "We were paying the usual rates and if they didn't like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else."
Gerald saw Eva as "young and fresh and charming" - in other words, someone vulnerable he could amuse himself by helping.
Mrs Birling couldn't believe that "a girl of that sort would ever refuse money." Her charitable committee was a sham: a small amount of money was given to a small amount of women, hardly scratching the surface of the problem.

Resource summary

	Created by g.e.brockwell almost 11 years ago