Throughout the novel "The Help" there are many examples of how sexism was very much alive and had a major part in society at this time. For example men would talk condescendingly to women, especially when they were African American. Women also didn't have the same opportunities as men throughout this time (the 1950-60's) which included jobs, social experiences, and day to day life. It was expected of women at this time to have a man provide for them, and once married quit the job they might have had to have children, and be a housewife while the man is the main bread winner.

Today are there the same social structures when it comes to gender expectancies, or have they changed in the favor of men or women?

In this source it talks about the extreme changes that came about in the 1960's. Women started to go into the paid workforce, this started the huge debate in equal pay between the genders, this along with other things were feminists goals like , ending domestic violence, sexual harassment, and to share housework responsibility with men. "Over time, the feminist trends of the sixties took hold over the subsequent decades changed relationships between the genders" most women were starting to have the same expectations as men, now it wasn't surprising to see women in the male dominating fields, as in television production (talk shows, Oprah Winfrey). "Even conservative republican recruited female candidates and urged them to be as aggressive on the stump." This is in favor to my essential question because all of these changes in gender roles helped women to better themselves by becoming independent from the shadow of men.