"The 20th-century woman vs the 21st-century woman" challenges the traditional ideals and stereotypes of the 20th-century woman. Inspiriting for this painting derived from the ideal of gender roles.
In societies of today gender role expectations have changed in terms of leniency women have ambition restrictions. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states "We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” The birth of the new age woman began with the death of the modern woman. Cooking, cleaning, and being conforming aren't the only things women have to do anymore.
Adichie, Chimamanda N. "A Quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie."Goodreads. N.p., 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
In societies of today gender role expectations have changed in terms of leniency women have ambition restrictions. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states "We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” The birth of the new age woman began with the death of the modern woman. Cooking, cleaning, and being conforming aren't the only things women have to do anymore.
Adichie, Chimamanda N. "A Quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie."Goodreads. N.p., 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.