Notes

The 1960s played a significant role in women's rights including equal pay, minimizing sexual harassment, and domestic violence were all focused throughout this period. Michel Tremblay's play Les Belles Soeurs took a step back on that as it contained all female characters who spent the entirety of the play located in the kitchen, without any men. Whether this stereotype is true or false, Tremblay created a double standard for both himself and his characters by following the stereotypes of females while claiming to have great affection for the women in 1960s Quebec.
After World War II, women were more involved in society, taking many drastic steps in that direction Tremblay shows his understanding of women in the 1960s by filling in the 1 million stamps. These stamps were seen as a good thing, the characters in the play used stamps to complete the booklet to receive goods from the stores. As the characters realized Germaine Lauzon was the winner of these 1 million stamps, her friends and family turned on her in jealousy as each and every one of them believed it was them who should have won and enjoyed the jackpot. A double standard of the characters is introduced involving the jealousy the characters have of Germaine. Rather than being congratulated, her friends and family wish it was them winning and not Germaine, all turning on her and stealing the complete stamped books from Germaine. Even if any of the other characters would have won, the double standard would have continued throughout the characters and jealousy would continue to be the main factor.
Tremblay's characters continued the double standards when it came to the personality they claimed to be too to one another. This was seen when the character was put in the spotlight during the play, they swore to be devout Catholics and great people in general, as well as not having much and how much of an impact it would have on the entire community if it was them to win the 1 million stamps. But towards the end, many of the women in the play contradict themselves as not only are they jealous of Germaine's winning, one at a time they begin stealing from Germaine going against their religion and personality while leaving Germaine empty-handed.
In today's society, we see double standards being shown in multiple ways. Despite being a play from the 1960s, Michel Tremblay's play Les Belles Soeurs showed double standards being acted by the majority of the female characters in his play. Tremblay did show his affection for the women containing double standard traits of envy and betrayal, two traits the women showed, neglecting their presumed Catholic backgrounds.