Relevance of women issues (19th century to 21th century) including instances from the text Little Women.

Little Women challenged assumptions about women in nineteenth-century America. Marmee tells her daughters that they should not feel obligated to find husbands, but should seek fulfillment on their own. In chapter 9, she tells Meg and Jo:

My dear girls, I am ambitious for you, but not to have
you make a dash in the world—marry rich men
merely because they are rich, or have splendid
houses, which are not homes because love is wanting.
. . . [B]etter be happy old maids than unhappy
wives, or unmaidenly girls, running about to have
husbands. . . . Leave these things to time; make this
home happy, so that you may be fit for homes of your
own, if they are offered you, and contented here if
they are not.

Through her example, Marmee shows that a home can be run successfully without a man supporting it, as hers is while Mr. March is away at war. While many women, like Aunt March, expected young women to pursue wealthy men, Marmee sees the value of marriage differently.

Jo is fascinating as a study of female independence in early American society. She is a tomboy who is scolded by her sisters for whistling, using slang, and behaving in "unmaidenly" ways. In chapter 1, Jo tells Meg:

I hate to think I've got to grow up, and be Miss
March, and wear long gowns, and look as prim as a
China aster! 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;
and it's worse than ever now, for I'm dying to go and
fight with Papa, and I can only stay at home and knit,
like a poky old woman!

Jo is brash, outspoken, lively, and clever. She proclaims, "I am not afraid of anything," voicing an attitude altogether different from that of the stereotypical prim and proper young lady. As she matures, she takes more care with her appearance and adopts more ladylike mannerisms, but she does not sacrifice the sense that she is equal to any man.