How does Orwell portray women in 1984?

While 1984 is primarily a male-dominated novel, Orwell's portrayal of women makes some important statements about gender and its role in society.

With the exception of Julia, Winston's girlfriend, the women of 1984 are depicted in traditional roles where they espouse traditional norms and values. At the beginning of Part One, Chapter Three, for example, the reader meets Winston's mother who Winston remembers "with his young sister in her arms." Later in the chapter, his...

While 1984 is primarily a male-dominated novel, Orwell's portrayal of women makes some important statements about gender and its role in society.

With the exception of Julia, Winston's girlfriend, the women of 1984 are depicted in traditional roles where they espouse traditional norms and values. At the beginning of Part One, Chapter Three, for example, the reader meets Winston's mother who Winston remembers "with his young sister in her arms." Later in the chapter, his mother is portrayed as the protector of her children during an air raid which Winston is reminded of. 

Similarly, the prole women who Winston observes in Part Two, Chapter Ten, is depicted in a traditional setting: she is hanging out some washing in a courtyard. Surrounded by the "cries of the children in the street," Orwell, once again, reinforces the traditional role of women as mothers.

Though she is not a mother, the character of Katharine, Winston's estranged wife, reinforces Orwell's emphasis on traditional and domestic models of femininity. The first memory of Katharine, for instance, comes to Winston in Part One, Chapter Six, while he is standing in the kitchen, the 'traditional' bastion of women. Katharine's characterisation is also reminiscent of domestic female values: she is submissive, readily accepts party propaganda and is consumed by the desire to have a child and become a mother. Orwell's strong association between his female characters and motherhood is, thus, suggestive of his view on what constitutes a socially-acceptable role for women.

In contrast, however, is the character of Julia. She is a confident, rebellious and sexual woman who is complete opposite to all the other female characters in 1984. She represents a more modern view of femininity and openly rejects society's views on women and sexuality. In Part Two, Chapter Two, for example, Winston and Julia meet in the woods to avoid detection by the party. There, Julia confesses that she has had sex "hundreds of times" with other party members, despite being an active member of the Junior Anti-Sex League. 

Orwell, therefore, presents women in extremes of character. On one side, they are submissive mothers and, on the other, highly-sexualised rebels. This is, perhaps, more indicative of Orwell's own experiences with women than a true representation of femininity at the time of writing.