Priestley presents the idea of inequality between gender / gender roles within society to teach 1945

audience about the importance of change that he believed society needed. The play was written on
the cusp of World War II, making many throughout the world want change, so Priestley wrote this
didactic play to promote his socialist ideology.

A method Priestly uses on the reader to convey his views on the oppression of women within society
is by having the men throughout the play ‘force’ their opinions onto the women of said society. This
is best demonstrated when Sheila queries Gerald if he bought her the “ring you wanted me to have”.
The use of the pronoun in this interrogative statement is indicative of the fact Sheila had no choice
in what engagement ring she would have, leaving the decision up to her fiancé Gerald. The docile
attitude Sheila has is proof of the submission women had over men in this time in the patriarchal
society, however, appears ridiculous to modern audiences. Although this may be the case at the
start of the play, this pliant nature contrasts how Sheila acts at the end of the play, as she becomes
much more self-reliant as she begins to stand up to her parents and Gerald saying it is them who are
“being childish”. The adverb childish gives off the impression that Sheila, although being younger
than the people she is addressing, that she is much more mature than them and therefore making
her a much more sympathetic character due to her much purer morals. Priestly may also be using
Sheila as a vessel for his views on the socialist ideology, showing the effect it may have on the ones
undermined by society. Gender norms being broken would be much more unusual to the audience
of 1945, making her change much more shocking / impactful on the audience at the time. However,
to a much lower extent, it can be interpreted that Priestly uses Sheila as a microcosm for change and
to show it’s the young people that can make the change as Mrs Birling, a microcosm for old money,
remails selfish stating Sheila would “have to get used to it”, which strengthens the belief Mrs Birling
has about gender roles and how the social norm should be upheld.