Why stepmothers are evil in most fairy tales? Are they actually evil?

Instructions attached as a file.

Research Questions
Why stepmothers are evil in most fairy tales? Are they actually evil?
Why did Grimm Brothers replace the evil birth mother with an evil stepmother?
Why women (specifically older women) villainized?
Possible Sources :

Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms Fairy Tales.Princeton Classics,2019.

Gould Jean. Spinning Straw into Gold.Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

Carter, Angela. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. Penguin Books, 1990

Jamison, Leslie. In the Shadow of a Fairy Tale: On Becoming a Stepmother, NY Times,April 9, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/magazine/in-the-shadow-of-a-fairy-tale.html

Feel free to add more resources. Thank you!

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