The Operation of Traditional Gender Roles

The traditional gender roles are not challenged a great deal in Little House on the Prairie. For the most part, there is a clear separation of duties. Pa deals with the physical and outside work, makes the decisions, and protects his family. Ma tends to the children, keeps the house in check and always has the supper ready for when Pa returns home from his hard day’s work. While these duties demonstrate the traditional duties of the men and women of the patriarchal society they came from, there are times within the text when it is seen that the women need to step-up and fulfil extra duties in order to be successful in the settling process. This is because there were often not many men around to be able to help in the physical tasks that were too much for one person, like building a house for example.

In Chapter five, The House on the Prairie, there is clear evidence that supports Glenda Riley’s statement in Women’s Responses to the Challenges of Plains Living, that “all Plainswomen… were expected to attend to, or help with, domestic duties.” In the opening paragraph of the chapter, Laura and Mary “hurried to help Ma wash the dishes,” even as small girls, they are expected to help Ma with the domestic tasks, another example of this elsewhere in the novel is when Ma asks Laura to lay the table. When they were washing the dishes, “Pa was loading everything else into the wagon and hitching up Pet and Patty,” this shows how Pa takes on the masculine duties of the father. He goes on to demonstrate the patriarchal nature of the pioneering family when he stops the wagon and announces “Right here we’ll build our house.” Ma doesn’t have a say in this, as Pa is in control of the decision making.

Showing his masculine abilities, Pa makes the house. He has the skill required and the knowledge of how to. This is a very traditional notion of self-sufficiency. However, he cannot do it alone and Ma has to help him. While this challenges the traditional gender roles of the time, it was not a successful challenge. A log fell, “Pa was trying to hold up his end of it, to keep it from falling on Ma. He couldn’t. It crashed down. Ma huddled on the ground.” This incident reveals that the woman cannot always take on the male roles. While she helped to some extent, she got hurt and showed that women are not physically capable of everything a man is, adhering to the traditional gender roles. He then goes on to blame himself as he is the man of the house, and responsible for protecting his family, which in this instance, he fails to do. Ma, despite being hurt, still has to fulfil her duties as a mother and wife, “she got supper as usual, only a little more slowly.” She soldiers on, ignoring the pain. Riley notes that “huge numbers of plucky women faced the challenges with creativity, energy, and optimism,” this can be seen when Ma claims “cheerfully” that she will get better soon enough, and seen by her continuing her duties.

The introduction of Mr. Edwards shows the reader that women need protection. This is clear when Pa says that “he can get along without a house better than you and the girls can.” There is no mention here of Pa being without a house, but of the women needing the security of the house, and in helping them first, Mr. Edwards sacrifices his own safety to provide it for the Ingalls women. His masculinity is praised when he is referred to as “a fast worker”.

Laura is an interesting character in terms of gender roles, as she doesn’t want to be ladylike as society dictates. “She wanted to hide and be still in the tall grass, like a little prairie chicken. But she didn’t. She helped Ma,” this tells the reader that Laura has a wildness in her that is not a traditional idea of how to be a woman. As a little girl, she is allowed to want to hide, but as a frontier woman she is expected to help out with the domestic duties no matter how she feels, as there are limited people to help. This is also demonstrated later on in the novel, when the entire family is ill, and she has to fetch water for Mary, despite being very sick herself, because Ma and Pa cannot do it themselves. Again, hinting at Laura’s desire for the outdoors, she “explored a little.” This contrasts with Mary, who is content to stay indoors in the domestic environment with Ma. Laura likes to be outdoors with Pa, examples of this include when she wants to go wading in the water, and when she wants to see the wolves. The reader gets a more vivid idea that Laura is not at all ladylike, when she “tried and tried, but she could never spit so far or so well as Mr. Edwards could.” This is a very masculine activity and as a girl she should never have even tried, and in doing so, she challenged the traditional gender roles of society.

In Riley’s article, she makes some interesting observations. In regards to the dangerous weather, “men feared these fires because they endangered the animals, crops, and buildings that were largely men’s responsibilities, but women often thought of their children and homes, and their cows, pigs, and chickens.” The reader sees Ma react to this danger by helping Pa to control and put out the Prairie fire later on in the novel, and in doing so she steps up and takes on a masculine role in order to protect her role as a mother. Riley also notes that “a common theme was the absence of other women and their longing for family members who had not migrated.” This must have been difficult for Ma, to initially only have the young children and Pa, who was often out hunting or doing another masculine activity. Despite the emotional difficulty, Ma was able to stay optimistic and cheerful, agreeing with Riley’s later point that “the majority of them [women] managed to maintain homes and families, carry out domestic functions, and perpetuate the many values associated with the home.”