Society and It's Ethics

I want to talk about number thirteen of the socratic seminar questions for A Doll House. The question was "What is the difference between the ethical codes for men and women in the society portrayed in the drama?"  Obviously, there are some big gender gaps in this story. Nora is expected to stay home and take care of the children.  Her husband doesn't want her to have to work, and many women who do work are looked down upon in society. Helmer is meant to be the bread winner of the family and make all the decisions with their money.  In this family in particular, there is a role play type of situation in which Nora pretends to be a perfect little angel but in reality, she is not.  They never talk of anything serious as if Helmer thinks that Nora is too stupid or innocent to ever even think of such matters. It was not okay for her to borrow money or have any involvement in the business world at all.  It was an ethic code of their society just as today many people still think that women should stay at home and take care of the children and cook and clean and make their husband happy. Of course we are breaking out of this, just as Nora did by leaving, but there are plenty of men who still want to suppress women into these roles.  It really saddens me that we are not past this by now, though I do realize that these ideas could still be around for maybe a hundred more years.
In the Awakening, we do see a woman, Edna, break out of her societal constraints, or at least try.  Just like Nora, Edna tried to escape the expectations and ethical codes that society was pushing at her. In my opinion she was unsuccessful and felt that the only way she could get away was to end it.  She was not successful as Nora was because she did not find a way to leave.  I think that in our society everyone has certain social constraints, not just women.  Women do have it especially hard with being expected to look and act certain ways but other groups have it hard as well.  Ethnic groups such as African Americans or Latinos are seen as certain way in society.  It's not right, but that is how it is.  Some find a way to get past these expectations, but many don't and live with them their whole lives.  Also, a big controversy in our county is gay marriage and homosexuality.  Our society has always tried to push these people into "normalcy" but currently more and more are pushing out of this expectation and making their views and wants public which is awesome. I admire anyone who openly pushes at society's constraints. But anyway, in conclusion, Nora and Edna are both women who tried to escape society's ideas for them.  Nora succeeded and Edna did not. This is how society is today as well. Some break society's expectations and rules while some stay behind these lines. I think there will always be some sort of societal expectation and that there will always be people trying to be individuals.