Analytical Podcast Speech

My name is (Insert Name) and welcome to (Insert show name). Gender stereotypes have customs and beliefs about how females and males act or strict components about how females and males should act. For instance, these components dictate that women should be nurturing, submissive and meek while men should be agentic, strong and dominative. Gender stereotypes have always been there and continue to dominate our communities to date assigning every gender with rigid characteristics that they must observe or otherwise get viewed as less of a man or a woman. These stereotypes arise from the strong contact and interdependence between the male (men) and females(women) which ultimately results into stereotypes about how a man or woman should act and expectations for how to act. The topic is important because it provides knowledge and awareness of these stereotypes thus making it easy for men and women to understand when someone is stereotyping them. When people are aware of stereotypes, they can pass the knowledge to other people on their negative effects.

The text “Cinderella” by Brothers Grimm provides a perfect example of a society living normally in gender stereotyping so much it looks normal to discriminate women, attach value to them and dictate what they can and cannot do. Analyzing the text will help reveal exact instances of gender stereotypes from the various interactions of men and women in the text. Brothers’s Grimm version of Cinderella "Aschenputtel" conveys stereotypical values about gender to its readers.

Firstly, I will discuss the gender stereotype that women should be weak, good, overly religious, submissive and meek. Secondly, I will talk about the gender stereotype where women receive their status from their parents and then their husbands. Paragraph 4 depicts the stereotype of women as materialistic, cruel, jealous, evil and enemies to fellow women

The story conveys the stereotype that women should be good, overly religious, submissive and meek. The story opens with a dying mother telling her daughter to be good and overly religious. The maiden's life falls apart after her father remarries and lives to cry until her tears could wet her mother's grave. The author shows the plight of a submissive maiden who asks for nothing more than what is given to her and makes no effort to defend herself from her evil mother-in-law and stepsisters. The story conveys a stereotype of women as horribly meek and those who should die at their oppressors' hands.

For instance, Cinderella’s stepmother says, "Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." These are the words Cinderella gets from her mother on her death bed showing that women should not be defensive but always wait on God and continue being nice to their oppressors. The result is a painful life of Cinderella throughout the story, having to take pity punishments from her mother-in law and tending to the horrible sisters-in law without question.

The author writes, “There she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook and wash. Besides this, the sisters did her every imaginable injury - they mocked her and emptied her peas and lentils into the ashes, so that she was forced to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked till, she was weary she had no bed to go to, but had to sleep by the hearth in the cinders. And as on that account she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.” The entire text shows extreme weakness of a woman who does not, make any effort of defending herself or asking for help from her father. The mother’s words above show the transfer of these stereotypes from generation to generation and that is the reason Cinderella could not stand her ground and demand better treatment from people that invaded her home.

The author also states, “Cinderella obeyed, but wept, because she too would have liked to go with them to the dance, and begged her step-mother to allow her to do so.” The text shows that women should obey without question and tears are a woman’s way of expressing her pain instead of fighting. Tears signify weakness. The author uses the following instances to show the readers that a woman is supposed to be powerless and voiceless. Fighting or standing against one’s oppressor makes a woman aggressive and instead they should continue being obedient and cry when it becomes too much. A woman has no definition of herself and receives it from other people.

The author shows that during the era of the story and also in modern times that a woman gets her status from her parents and then gets it from their husbands. Cinderella was an only child loved by her parents before her mother's death. Previously Cinderella had her parents making her feel important, beautiful and gave her a sense of belonging. After her mother’s death, the father remarries, which makes her loose these statuses. She remains rusty, dirty and stripped of her pride, possession and the love of a father who cannot make his second wife take care of her. Cinderella’s stepmother says, “You go, Cinderella," said she, "covered in dust and dirt as you are, and would go to the festival. You have no clothes and shoes, and yet would dance."

The text shows that Cinderella needs another person to make her beautiful and make her fit to attend a prestigious festival and since her mother and father no longer do that for her, she loses that. This shows that a woman needs approval from their parents to have full confidence of self. A woman cannot rise from the ashes by believing in herself but needs other people to do that. The stepmother says to one of her daughters that, “Cut a bit off your heel, when you are queen you will have no more need to go on foot. “Cut the toe off, when you are queen you will have no more need to go on foot." The author in these texts also shows readers that a woman also should receive her status from her husband. Cinderella’s stepmother tells her daughters to mutilate themselves since the Prince will elevate them to statuses where they will no longer need some parts of their bodies after making them Queen. This shows that the society feel that status is all that makes a woman in society and without it they are nothing. They therefore must do all it takes including allowing themselves to get hurt to acquire status.

Cinderella for once makes an effort and decides to be different after the King announces that his Son needs a wife. All along, she was contented being filthy and below everybody’s feet and only decides that enough when an opportunity to be queen presents. The author tries to show that Cinderella does so because she knew that being Queen would give her a status that would elevate her above everyone else. Cinderella thus needed the Prince to seize being a slave to her step mother and her daughters. The author shows that women need men to save them from all problems in life since they are weak beings.

Thus, the author uses the instance of marriage and parenthood as a way that women receive their status in society. The text shows that a woman cannot define her worth and make herself important in the society. The gender stereotype shows that women do not need a career, vision or goals to define themselves, they need their parents and a husband to do that for them. The text also shows women going to extreme levels to acquire their status and end up being evil, cruel and materialistic.

The author utilizes various instances in the text to convey the stereotype of women as materialistic, evil, cruel, jealous and enemies to fellow women. Cinderella ‘s step mother and the step sisters are sadistic and are stopping at nothing to be able to destroy Cinderella. The author shows women invading an innocent girl home, taking all her beautiful dresses, jewelry and her father’s love and leaves her with nothing. Their cruelty is shocking. At the beginning of the text, the author writes, “The wife of a rich man fell sick……”. The opening sentence of the text has the author showing that Cinderella’s father was wealthy. Women do not want to marry poor men because all they care about is money. The second wife marries Cinderella's father for his riches, and all the maidens aspire to marry a wealthy Prince. The stereotype is that women are materialistic and marry wealthy men for their wealth and not genuine love.

The author continues to write, “The woman had brought with her into the house two daughters, who were beautiful and fair of face, but vile and black of heart. Now began a bad time for the poor step-child. "Is the stupid goose to sit in the parlor with us," they said. "He who wants to eat bread must earn it. Out with the kitchen-wench." They took her pretty clothes away from her, put an old grey bedgown on her, and gave her wooden shoes”. Looking at the text above, the author does not show the women trying to be nice and friendly to a girl that just lost her mother. The text has the author showing the readers that women are cruel and enemies of progress for the other woman. The author does not at any time show a woman assisting another unless they are their children but stands in the way of another woman advancing in life.

After Cinderella successfully completes the punishments given to her to burr her from attending the dance, the stepmother tells her that, "All this will not help. You cannot go with us, for you have no clothes and cannot dance. We should be ashamed of you." Cinderella’s stepmother is desperate to destroy Cinderella that she uses three demeaning instances to rip Cinderella off her self-confidence, worth and dignity to attend the dance. She uses words to break her by calling her an embarrassment, filthy and a laughing stock dictating to her what she can and cannot do.Her daughters follow suit and use her as a maid to make them look beautiful for the Prince. The author uses a woman and her daughters to stage women as bitter, deceitful, condescending, and destructive.

Therefore, the various instances show that a woman cannot support another unless they are their daughters. Also, the author shows the desperation of women for wealth and shows how they are willing to stoop low to get the wealth. None of the women in the story is married to a poor man. No woman in the story is trying to lift the other but shows women full of malice and evil schemes. The author does not show men trying to obstruct the Prince’s marriage, but only women are blocking other women’s destiny and success. The texts excellently convey gender stereotypes of women as evil, materialistic, cruel, jealous and a gender that cannot lift one another to greatness. The author also shows that women should be meek, submissive, weak and overly religious. A woman should never confront her oppressor since that is not womanly. The story also shows the readers that a woman only receives her status from her parents and husband since that is not something, she cannot do herself.

From the instances provided in the speech, it is clear that Brothers’s Grimm version of Cinderella "Aschenputtel" conveys stereotypical values about gender to its readers. Gender stereotypes are an essential topic that not only creates awareness among people. Discussing the topic makes it possible to stop the habit of stereotyping men and women and appreciating people for who they are. Teaching about these topics prevents the transmission of these stereotypes from parents to their children and building independent people in society. A young girl needs to understand that she should be strong, have high-esteem and engage in all jobs without being made to feel less of a woman. Gender stereotypes affect men too and it is important for them to know that it is okay to be weak for whether male or female, we are all human and possess emotions. The audience should care about gender stereotypes to help break the rigidity in some of them and limit the negative effects of stereotypes on mental health and human interactions.

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