Gender Stereotypes In Watership Down By Richard Adams

Watership Down was written by Richard Adams in 1972. The book revolves around two main rabbits Fiver and Hazel. These rabbits escape their own warren with other rabbits and seek a place to set a home. The role of women is set in this book as, birth givers and hole-diggers. The undeveloped role of the does, and the eagerness of the bucks to find them is more understood with the history of the 1970’s. There was however, one female character that stood out from the rest; the intelligent and caring Hyzenthlay. During the 1970’s womens rights were being debated and they were facing many hardships including: discrimination, lower pay than men, segregated employment, and had less than half the legal rights as men (Foltynova, 2021). The main roles

With the time period it could be understandable how he along with most men saw women as a “side” character and not as important as the males. In chapter 40 the doe that had been previously hurt does not make it through the morning. Blackavar, who has proven himself to be very useful to the group, says “Anyway, what’s a doe more or less”, after finding out the doe did not make it through the night (Adams 389). Of course many of the male rabbits were surprised by him saying this but then thought nothing about it afterward. Many people while reading this would have brushed off Blackavar saying that and think nothing of it. Without them they wouldn't be able to survive within the warrens. Although women were seen as a minority and did not have many basic rights, the world and the warren would not survive without them. Even with the women having to stay at home due to lack of jobs and as much education as the men, they still took care of the home and raised the children. Without it the warren would not be able to grow the way they would like it to. The bucks would struggle with basic everyday necessities, such as digging the hole to sleep and relax in, gathering many of the materials they need, and producing the

She is a very intelligent and caring doe. She is one of the main females that doesn't just make the offspring and digs holes. Although she still does things she normally do; she mates with Holly and bears the second litter in the new warren. Hyzenthlay and Bigwig made a plan to help the others escape and come with them to leave their old warren and create or find a new one. Hyzenthlay was seen as a rebel, she was very smart and wanted to be on the right side of the situation. She had a little bit of psychic powers just like fiver. She was able to see into the future and look out for danger. Her only big role in the book was helping Bigwig organize the escape. After that Hyzenthlay became another background