Women at that time

The book itself was set at a time period that expected it's women to be housewives 24/7. They were expected to cook, clean, and look after the children if you had any. The thing about the book that bugged me the most was that through out the whole book, Curley's wife's name was never mentioned once. She was just referred to as "Curley's wife" I believe this was because Steinbeck wanted to make the point that women were viewed as the lower sex and their opinions and beliefs didn't matter.