Gender Roles After the Potato Famine.
Literature often distinguishes the roles of men and women, defining appropriate behavior within the context of the culture in which it is written. Throughout the changes of society these roles continually transform in accordance with the modernization of traditions. The devastation of the Potato Famine of 1845 brought numerous changes, including political uprisings, social unrest, and economic decline. The catastrophic effects forced many Irish men and women to abandon their previous lifestyles and gender specific behaviors for survival purposes. Asenath Nicholson's and Henry Mayhew's articles concerning the social and cultural effects of the famine display the differences in pre-famine and post-famine masculine and feminine behavior.
Gender roles are still very much a part of many present-day cultures, varying in strictness and severity of the societal expectations. During pre-famine times in Ireland appropriate behavior varied slightly depending on class. Those raised in the upper class echelon were expected to preserve the gallant gentlemanly and ladylike behavior of their ancestors while those in the lower classes were less poised and pretentious. These lower class people, however, did extend hospitality to those of equal and higher rank. The women, for example, were collectively subservient to men, and those of lower income maintained a passive demeanor to more affluent ladies. Consequently, the men were only economically submissive to each other depending on class and almost always the dominant force over the family in the household. Although Nicholson and Mayhew do not specifically outline these terms of the feminine/masculine relationship, it was perceived as an unspoken code that, when deviated from, was shunned. .
Nicholson's and Mayhew's written reactions to those greatly affected by the famine illustrate the profound variation of pre-famine and post-famine behavior for both men and women, especially those of the lower economic and social class.