Themes — Gender, Generational Conflict & Power

Beyond social responsibility and class, An Inspector Calls explores three further themes that are vital for GCSE success: gender, the generational divide, and power. Priestley weaves these themes together to create a play that challenges every aspect of the Edwardian social order.

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Theme 3: Gender

Women in 1912

In the Edwardian period, women occupied a subordinate position in society:

• Women could not vote — the suffragette movement was active but had not yet succeeded (women over 30 gained the vote in 1918; all women over 21 in 1928)
• Married women had limited legal rights over property and finances
• Women were expected to be domestic, passive, and morally pure
• A woman's reputation was her most valuable asset — once lost, it was nearly impossible to recover
• Working-class women had few employment options — factories, shops, domestic service, or prostitution

How Gender Shapes the Play

1. Eva Smith as a victim of patriarchal society

Every man in the play exploits Eva in a way that is shaped by gender:

Male character	How gender shapes the exploitation
Mr Birling	Sacks her — he has economic power over female workers
Gerald	Makes her his mistress — uses her emotional and sexual vulnerability
Eric	Assaults her — assumes entitlement to her body
Alderman Meggarty	Harasses her at the Palace Bar — harassment normalised

2. Mrs Birling reinforces patriarchal values

Despite being a woman, Mrs Birling upholds the patriarchal moral code:

"She was claiming fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position" (Act 2)

Mrs Birling judges Eva for being pregnant outside marriage — she enforces the very system that oppresses women like Eva. She has internalised the patriarchal values of her class.

3. Sheila's transformation as feminist awakening

Sheila's journey can be read as a movement from passive femininity to active moral agency:

• At the start: defined by her engagement, her ring, her appearance
• By the end: she speaks with moral authority, challenges her parents, and refuses to return to Gerald simply because it is socially expected

"No, not yet. It's too soon. I must think" (Act 3) — when Gerald offers the ring back

She refuses to be a passive, obedient woman. This is radical for 1912.

Examiner's tip: You can argue that Priestley uses Sheila to show that women are capable of moral growth and independent thought — a direct challenge to the Edwardian view that women should be passive and decorative.

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The "Respectable" Woman vs the "Fallen" Woman

Edwardian society divided women into two categories:

"Respectable" women	"Fallen" women
Married, sexually pure	Unmarried mothers, sex workers
Protected by family and class	Abandoned by society
Mrs Birling, Sheila (at the start)	Eva Smith / Daisy Renton

Mrs Birling refuses to help Eva precisely because Eva has crossed from "respectable" to "fallen." Priestley exposes this distinction as cruel and hypocritical — the men who "ruined" Eva (Gerald, Eric) face no equivalent social punishment.

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Theme 4: Generational Conflict

The Divide

One of the clearest structural patterns in the play is the split between the older and younger generations:

Older generation (Birling, Mrs Birling)	Younger generation (Sheila, Eric)
Refuse to accept responsibility	Accept responsibility
Value reputation and social standing	Value truth and moral honesty
Want to forget the evening	Cannot and will not forget
Represent the failures of the past	Represent the hope of the future
Set in their ways — will not change	Capable of change and growth

Evidence of the Divide

Mr Birling dismisses the younger generation's concerns:

"The famous younger generation who know it all" (Act 3)

Sheila challenges her parents' refusal to change:

"It doesn't make any difference ... You're ready to go on in the same old way" (Act 3)

Eric is furious with his mother:

"You killed her — and the child she'd have had too — my child — your own grandchild" (Act 3)

Gerald's Position

Gerald sits between the generations. He is young but behaves like the older generation in Act 3 — he leads the effort to disprove the Inspector and offers Sheila her ring back as if nothing has happened. Priestley suggests that class loyalty can override generational change — Gerald's upper-class instincts pull him back towards the status quo.

Priestley's Message About Generations