Identify some gender conflicts in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.

One of the major themes in Louisa May Alcott's novel,
Little Women, deals with gender roles. One of the central conflicts
in the story is society's expectation that women are expected to find husbands: this is
considered the suitable role for women
of the time.

Marmee is raising her daughters to recognize
that they need not give in to society's expectation that they
marry. Their sense of purpose and achievement can come from within,
and not from society's determination that a woman can
only be complete by being
married.

Marmee further demonstrates the reality of this
choice as she learns to not only survive, but to successfully take care of her family
without the presence of a man—in the face of the war that has taken Mr. March away from
home. While many women of the time may expect the girls not only to
marry—but to marry for money— Marmee does not
support this mindset. Marriage should not be based on societal
expectation, and it should not be based on finances. She is a woman
who believes in "gentler considerations."

Another gender
conflict is found in society's expectation of the acceptable href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comportment">comportment of a
woman. Jo is not a traditional young lady of the time: she is a tomboy. She whistles,
uses slang and is thought to have "unmaidenly ways."

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Jo is brash, outspoken, lively, and
clever...

And in the novel Jo
states:

It's
bad enough to be a girl, anyway, when I like boys' games and work and manners! I can't
get over my disappointment in not being a
boy...

Once again, this
defies the cultural demands of young women—circumstances during the time which Jo is
being raised. Marmee and Jo's attitudes show Alcott's feeling that women had the right
to be individuals, apart from society's norms, and that they could
be the "equal to any man."