A century ago, life for women was very different from today, they were treated as vastly inferior human beings. It was thought that the woman was feeble, weak and needed to be protected.
-"The man naturally governs; the woman naturally obeys." - Physiologist Alex Walker 1840.
When married, husband and wife became one person, the husband had complete control over his wife and "owned" his children. The husband was entitled to all his wife's property and any money she earned.
Henrik Ibsen wrote a play in 1879 entitled "A Doll's House". In its day it scandalized 19th century audiences, Nora's character shocked theatre goers; for her impulsiveness was unheared of in that era, especially from a middle class house wife.
During the play, you see Nora taking many roles in her quest to become her own person without belonging to anyone. She wants to live her own destiny.
The roles she plays are essential for her to make the move to leave her restricted lifestyle behind. The first role you see Nora portray is a child like daughter to her husband Torvald. Nora tries to hide macaroons from him, you immediately get the impression that he is domineering over her as no wife would hide sweets from their husband. Torvald has pet names for Nora such as "squirrel" and "skylark", this seems a bit childish and immature for a business man like Torvald especially when he has children he could speak to in this manner. However it proves to me that husbands of that era did dominate their wives and "owned" them to a certain extent.
Nora's juvenile ways shine through into the stage directions for example they instruct her to "play with Torvald's buttons". Although these actions would be childish and daughterly toward Torvald, some might say they are flirtatious and manipulative acts toward him. Even though you see her acting like this, Nora manages to get around her husband. For instance she persuades him to give her money for Christmas.