How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
'There, there.' He patted her on the shoulder. 'You must try to be sensible. Try to be modern. An intelligent woman like you. Leave motherhood to the lower orders, as nature intended. Now, of course,' he smiled, 'according to the rules, that's what you're supposed to do. You've had your recommended ration. No more motherhood for you. Try to stop feeling like a mother.' (1.1.9)
Why do you think it is that motherhood in Beatrice-Joanna's world is left to "the lower orders" (i.e., lower class, working women)?
Quote #2
She was a handsome woman of twenty-nine, handsome in the old way, a way no longer approved in a woman of her class. The straight graceless waistless black dress could not disguise the moving opulence of her haunches, nor could the splendid curve of her bosom be altogether flattened by its constraining bodice. (1.1.11)
Women of Beatrice-Joanna's class are expected to be far more androgynous than Beatrice-Joanna can manage. Not only do her "opulent haunches" and the "splendid curve of her bosom" scream WOMAN, they also draw attention to the fact that, biologically speaking, she is a mammal like any other, and her body is equipped to bear children.
Quote #3
She was in love with Derek, she decided, but she did not think she loved him. [. . .] She loved, she decided, Tristram, but was not in love with him. So, so far hence in time, a woman contrived to think with (as it was in the beginning) her instincts, (is now) her complicated nerves, and (ever shall be) her inner organs (world without end) [. . .] (Amen.)
Turns out ladies of the future think exactly like ladies of the past: with their womanly intuition, their crazy hysterical lady nerves, and their inner lady bits. Honestly folks, it's a wonder they ever get anything done. (That's sarcasm, by the way.)