Major Barbara Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)

Quote #4

The others do. That is the injustice of a woman's lot. A woman has to bring up her children; and that means to restrain them, to deny them things they want, to set them tasks, to punish them when they do wrong, to do all the unpleasant things. And then the father, who has nothing to do but pet them and spoil them, comes in when all her work is done and steals their affection from her. (1.260)

As fun as we find Lady Brit, and as much as she seems large and in charge for most of the play, the reality is that she does end up getting kind of a raw deal in the end; no one really listens to her, and the kids basically all end up going over to Undershaft's views. So, her reflections here about the unfairness of a woman's lot seem kind of foreshadow-y.

Quote #5

That's what's so unfair to us women. Your confessions is just as big lies as ours: you don't tell what you really done no more than us; but you men can tell your lies right out at the meetins and be made much of for it; while the sort o confessions we az to make az to be wispered to one lady at a time. It ain't right, spite of all their piety. (2.27)

Beginning with a statement that kind of echoes Lady B's complaints about the lot women face (see elsewhere in this section), Rummy is bitter about the existence of different standards for ladies and men. Of course, she's mostly upset because these standards get in the way of her ability to lie to others and thereby win their sympathy.

Quote #6

Yes: you like an old man to hit, don't you, when you've finished with the women. I ain't seen you hit a young one yet. (2.65)

Peter Shirley, another man at the Army shelter, is telling off Bill Walker for basically only wanting to pick on people who aren't his size. Bill and his opinions about women (which let's just say aren't exactly progressive) get a lot of airtime in Act II.