When Gilman's short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper' was published in 1891, women's rights were just beginning to be discussed. In fact, how women were treated during this era was as unjust as many before it, because women were just beginning to find their voice. After the public had read Gilman's story, many asked her reasoning behind writing. She later explained that the narrator, 'Jane', was actually meant to represent the author whenever she had gone through a mental breakdown earlier in life. Gilman was certainly not the first or last woman to experience this, as it was unknowingly common for a woman in the 1800's to be mentally ill and locked away as a result. From the 1800's to early 1900's, a woman who behaved not as the male figures around her wanted her to would be placed in mental asylums. Thus, Gilman's story was published at a perfect time, creating awareness for the mistreatment of women who were mentally ill.

Women in history have been given a consistent assignment  --  to be submissive to the male figures they interact with. Being a good wife during this time meant tending to the children and the home, and being content with spending the majority of life inside the home. Naturally, some women were perfectly capable of living in confined spaces year after year, but there was also a fraction of them who couldn't handle being secluded from the outside world. So when these women began developing common mental disorders, such as anxiety or hysteria, the male figure in the household decided how to treat her. Many men during this time believed that a woman developed mental illness when she was bombarded with 'too many activities', and as a result, would only isolate her even more so. 

Of course, when this method of treatment did not seem to help alleviate the symptoms of a mentally ill woman, the only option they saw feasible would be to admit her into a psychiatric ward. Admittance was relatively easy, considering ailments such as depression after the loss of a loved one or even irregular menstrual cycles was enough to be considered a proper excuse. Any mental disease was not specified, most were just considered to be mentally insane due to overexertion. Because they were all viewed to be ill the same, they were all treated the same. Little to no improvement would be made for these women, as it is known today that every mental illness is different and should be treated accordingly.

Not only did being isolated from the world have an impact on women's mental health in the nineteenth century, but the pressures of social statuses were also hard on women. Their image was supposed to be pure, and they were meant to only be married once. Having any sort of relations before or after their one arranged marriage ruined how society looked at them, writing them off as worthless. At the same time, a woman was not supposed to live her life unwed or not be married off at a young age. Single women were viewed as failures to society, because it was believed that she would not amount to much, if anything, without a man by her side. These social statuses were also apparent even in psychiatric wards, women who were unwed were treated even more poorly than those who were, as those who were married would be diagnosed with becoming 'stressed of the daily pressures of being a wife and mother'.

Many women who were admitted into a mental institution generally never saw the light of day again. Fake death certificates and obituaries could be made for the family of an admitted woman, sealing her fate to live the rest of her days being treated like an animal, and even limiting her days of survival. If a husband whose wife was being 'treated' in an asylum wanted to get rid of her without faking a death, it was also relatively easy for the man to get a divorce from his wife once she was admitted. This means that, years later, if that woman was ever released, she would come to a bitter surprise of finding out her husband had remarried, generally to a younger woman. The cycle continues, once a woman in the nineteenth century was deemed clinically insane, she would be viewed as a failure for the rest of her life.

Just like the horror movies predict, oftentimes once a woman stepped foot into a psychiatric ward, there was only a few chances she had to get out. In the late 1800's, a woman named Nellie Bly who worked as a journalist for 'New York World' decided to pretend to be insane so she could experience first-hand how asylum patients live. When she arrived, she tried to plead herself of not being insane, but no doctor or caretaker took her seriously, being a woman who did not know what was best for herself. She noted that even the women who were admitted that probably were not originally insane began to behave like those who were. The women were only fed five prunes and a piece of buttered bread for dinner, and as a result, they would steal each other's food when the opportunity was given. Hygienic supplies were limited, so women had to share used towels and combs just to get by. Bly even quoted herself, saying "...I always made a point of telling the doctors I was sane, and asking to be released, but the more I endeavored to assure them of my sanity, the more they doubted it."

Despite the great medical advancements in the nineteenth century, none of them seemed to travel into the mental health world. The only bigger change that came along was the distribution of 'happy pills', which actually were just tranquilizers in a capsule instead of providing any means of improvement in their illnesses. Hydrotherapy also became a popular treatment among mental institutions, which consisted of constraining the patient in either boiling hot or freezing cold water. It was not uncommon to also hear of patients being treated with leeches, held in restraints during the process. Throughout the nineteenth century, humanist movements in America attempted to side for better treatment in mental institutions, but were often overlooked because very few knew of what actually went on except for the patients.

The unsystematic treatment of mentally ill women was unfortunately not unknown to woman of any background or race, and became a rising problem, especially in Europe and North America. While some women who were admitted truly revealed signs of insanity, such as believing that they were God himself, many were unreasonably diagnosed as insane. Just like Gilman's story, once a person is meant to believe they are insane, their mind will fool them into behaving as such. Treating other human beings like animals will only result in them reverting to their animalistic ways. In order to inflict pain on another living creature as 'specialists' in the nineteenth century is what society should view as clinically insane. Perhaps, it is best if people do not judge the mental stability of one another. The line between sanity and insanity is hard to define, for we are all living in our own reality and will never experience another. For all we know, there could be a 'Jane' inside each and every one of us, waiting for their time to come out.

