Downton Abbey - Season 1 Episode 3

Downton Abbey is a British TV series that is set at a fictional Yorkshire country house and "follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants" (Downton Abbey). The time period of the first season begins right after the Titanic sinks. The sinking of the Titanic has great impact on the Crawely household because the only son, and heir to the estate dies. This leaves the Crawley family with no know heir in their direct family lines.
Gender has a big influence on the storyline and each characters role. Though there is a seemingly equal number of men and women in the overall cast, the children of the Crawley household are all female and at this point, grown women. Their main goals are to find husbands and marry into wealth.As expected they have been taught how to run a household, which involves managing the many servants who work there and they are expected to dress and behave a certain way. The women work hard to maintain a certain image because they do not want to disgrace their family name or ruin their chance at a successful marriage. The main reason of marrying off the daughters, seemed less to find them a loving husband, but rather a man with wealth who would be able to care for their financial needs.
The men are also expected to behave in a certain way. From the what I saw the men are expected to be kept together and in charge. In charge meaning that they are in control of themselves and did not need help. Women on the other had are viewed as more fragile and emotionally inclined. I think it is due to this underlying concept, that the men are were more capable, that they ended up in most of the leadership positions and therefore, in charge.
Social class also has a major influence on the storyline. The women of Crawley house did not hold jobs; however the women servants were obviously working. I believe this goes to show that women were considered equal to men but each gender had different roles that they were expected to play.
I think that Downton Abbey does a great job showing how the more traditional gender dynamic used to work in that time era. I do believe that some of this dynamic still exist today. Women and men still are expected to behave a certain way; however, today, one can stray from these expectations and not feel condemned.