Surprised, baffled, and angry is how Jem felt when he learned that women weren't allowed to serve on court juries. Women have faced many problems relating to gender equality since the beginning of time and many of these problems are highlighted in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Gender inequality was a large part of the novel, and it is still seen in today. One example of gender inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird is how Aunt Alexandra treats Scout. Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to wear dresses and act more girly and polices her about how she acts. “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants”(81). In this quote Aunt Alexandra is scrutinizing Scout for wearing pants instead of a dress and doing ‘boy’ things because dresses are more ‘ladylike’. This relates to gender inequality because Scout is expected to wear a dress and to like female things because she is a girl. …show more content…
Jem is baffled after finding out that kind honest women like Miss Maudie aren't allowed to serve on the jury because they are women. “‘why don't people like Miss Maudie ever sit on juries? You never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury---they all come from out in the woods.’ For some reason he looked pleased with Jem. ‘I was wondering when that occur to you,’ he said. ‘There are lots of reasons. For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman---’”(221). This relates to gender inequality because it shows that Jem is stunned by the news of women not being able to serve on a jury when unjust men from the woods