writing were discouraged from pursuing their talent. During the 18th century, women were still seen as submissive. However, the beginning of the cultural revolution in Britain brought about changes to the roles of women. Women were more frequently assisting their husbands in work and had greater access to education. Throughout the cultural revolution, women were still victims of both economic and social discrimination. Their career choices were restricted to marriage, motherhood, nursing or teaching, with their primary roles being child-bearers and wives. Literature still primarily focused on men, reflecting the constructs of traditional gender roles. Nevertheless, works such as John Dryden's prose Absalom and Achitophel have depicted an 18th-century perception of masculinity and the role of women. Although the 19th century brought about romanticism in literature, it was still a period where women weren't as valued as highly as men. This was shown through literary works by Mary Virginia, who was an American novelist during the 19th century. She wrote of the suppression of and inferior public attitude towards women, in which she says, that to a man, "women are ... valued according to the amount of hard usage she will endure". Her literature, which is some of the first feminist writings, reflects the gradual uprising against the patriarchy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Gender novels in the 20th century In the 20th century, movements such as feminism made their presence during the latter half of the century. This is reflected in the emergence of gender novels during this time period, some of the most important being Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. These novels shed light on new concepts regarding the gender construct and envisioned new theories and definitions surrounding gender and how it impacts the human person. The Left Hand of Darkness Another gender novel that was produced in the 20th century is Le Guin's text, Left Hand of Darkness, which was published in 1969. This book debates whether gender constructs are in fact what constitutes a human being. To highlight how entrenched the construct of gender is within society, she bases her novel on a planet where gender does not exist and where the androgynous race lives in harmony. She imagined a world whose inhabitants have no permanent gender; their sexual roles are determined by context and express themselves only once every month. Le Guin