Gender Role in The Friday Everything Changed

Abstract

Literature is a reflection of values and issues in society, and these values and issues are also able to be shaped and moulded by literature (Semiyeva, 2025). People can understand different experiences, beliefs, and social conditions through characters in literature. One of the social issues often discussed in literature is gender role, where women received unequal treatment solely because of their gender. Traditional literature often portrays the female characters as passive, timid, and dependent on the male characters, while male characters are shown to be active, brave, and dependable (Pownall & Heflick, 2023). Those traits can be seen in the story of Cinderella, where the abused female protagonist, valued for her beauty, waits to be rescued by the prince. These portrayals of damsels in distress can reinforce patriarchal ideologies that limit women’s roles and way of thinking. Therefore it is important to discuss and promotes equal treatment between gender to change the traditional thought that view women as lesser being.