Women's Issues in Grapes of Wrath?

Hello, I'm doing a 7 page argumentative research project using classic American literature and I was hoping to do an issue using women's roles in the family, including change, based upon Grapes of Wrath and Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. (Both are traveling novels, everyone is broke, neither group is well accepted, the characters change as the stories unfold, etc.) My main question then is "How do I frame my argument and what angle do I take?" Thank you.

The roles of the men and the women are extremely different--the men are expected to figure out how to sustain the families, how to obtain work, how to provide for everyone. They are grunts...their bodies, not their minds, are what they have to give. Women are important for their bodies as well, but also for their minds--they have to make sure that the men don't get into trouble by getting involved with the troublemakers in the union movement (for Steinbeck's work, anyway) and so they use guilt and manipulation to ensure that their men stay on the straight and narrow. Ma Joad has to be really smart in protecting her son after he does get into trouble with the unionists...she's sly and will do anything to ensure the safety of her family. She plans ahead so that there is food enough for everyone, paying attention especially to Rose of Sharon, as she is pregnant and in the most need of nutrition. I would say that the women make sure the families stay together and are self-sacrificing in this pursuit. They are in the background, but they are the mainstays, using their minds and, to a lesser degree, their bodies, to make sure that everyone is safe and healthy (as much as they can be in such horrible situations).

Edit: Not sure if you've read The Dollmaker, by Harriet Arnow, but it's an amazing story about the same time period, mainly from the perspective of the female head of the household (also an American classic).

If I could remember correctly, women are like water...In Grapes of Wrath, women's role is portrayed as nurturer, giver of birth...There's a strong symbolism in that... It's been a while since I've been out of high school...