For hundreds of years women have fought to gain equality with men. They have been suppressed and their chances have been taken away all because of laws that were in place against women. They have been fighting for the same social, political, and economic rights that men have always had and most likely, always will have. This feminism movement is allowing women to expand their careers like never before, hold positions in government, and become empowered in a society dominated by men. Three pieces of literature I have read have given me greater understanding on this ideology and the reasoning behind it. The first text is "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy, in the poem she brings up gender and social expectations that are still very relevant. It is about a girlchild who is humiliated because of her looks and ends up killing herself just so she can feel pretty. The second text is "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid and it is just a list of instructions on how to act like a proper women. She tells the girl about life, cooking, house keeping, men, and keeping a solid reputation. Last on is "The Yellow Wallpaper" which talks about medical misogyny towards women. As the plot progresses, it shows how the main character is being treated and how it has effected her mentally. These texts allow for a more complete understanding of the history of feminism, feminism itself, and the reasons behind the movement.

Modern day feminism has made a lot of progress towards the goals of women. At first, women mainly focused on legal issues such as gaining the right to vote. Back in the 19th century, women who were caught trying to cast a vote often faced charges. This stage of the movement is called first-wave feminism. The next phase, second-wave feminism, brought along the fight for workplace, sexuality, and and even reproductive rights. While women started to gain equality in their professions,feminist also started to draw attention to domestic violence and marital rape (Rampton). This take us to where we are now, the third wave of feminism. In this wave women try to remove the expectation between gender roles and incorrect stereotypes that have stuck around for decades. Many women now are trying to put these expectations behind them and find equality everywhere. Even today, I would say a lot of men still think that housekeeping should be a women's a job, which is somewhat shown in the poem "Girl". Also, women try to move past the stereotypes that the media has helped portray. Like the idea that all women should be in kitchen cooking and or taking care of the kids. Lastly, they are starting to pick careers over there homes and marriage and are fighting for economic equality with men. A lot of working women argue that they do not make as much money as there male counterparts and say it is unfair.

These stories help readers learn more about second-wave feminism; more specifically, expectations. The girlchild in "Barbie Doll" gives us, the readers, a good idea of what life is like as an American woman. It gives us a understandable snapshot of some of the ridiculous expectations society hangs over the heads of young women. One thing that really stuck out in this piece of work was the use of the word "girlchild". It has to do with the pressure put on women at a young age to act "appropriate", while boys have very little pressure from adults to act a certain way (Piercy). If a boy does does something wrong people will just say, "ohh thats just boys being boys." But young girls have a lot expectations to look pretty, behave their best, and please the people around her so that she does nothing that's considered inappropriate. Society doesn't seem to care whether they are acting themselves or not, they are just expect to act a certain way at a very young age. Immediately, the high expectations are visible in this story. The girl is playing with "miniature GE stoves" and "dolls", which gives the idea that women are expected to be in the kitchen and practice being future mothers (Piercy) . 

The poem "Girl" also shows that femininity in the 70s can be a lot of hard work. In this poem, it seems that being a women is identical to keeping a house, and the people in it, clean. throughout the story the girl receives a lot of instruction on cleaning the house. All the way from the smallest of details to the largest tasks; the narrator says, "this is how you sweep a corner" then says, "this is how you sweep a yard" (Kincaid). She is also given instruction on clothing such as, "soak your little cloths right after you take them off." and "this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease." (Kincaid). These are all activities that are expected from the girl. Both of these poems represent women expectations as a whole not just those two individuals.

Appearance plays a large role in women lives, even in modern day. The girlchild in "Barbie Doll"  obviously has more to offer than just her appearance but, that all anyone seems to care about. This poems shows us that society often prefers appearance over anything else. The name of this poem has a large emphasis on this story even though the word "Barbie" is not used once; surprisingly, the imagery of a barbie is all over. The girlchild is made fun of for having "a great big nose and fat legs." (Piercy). because it doesn't look like Barbie's long, flowing hair or her long, skinny legs. None of her classmates are able to see past the fact that she doesn't look like a barbie doll, which cause her to go to the extreme, cutting off her nose and legs. I thought her doing this kind of symbolized the crazy standards that adult world had at that time. The crazy part is that even after her death, the undertaker (someone whose whole business is preparing bodies for burial and making funeral arrangements) put cosmetics on her to make her look like Barbie so everyone can say how pretty she looks. The doll distorts young girl's idea of what is pretty using unnatural characteristics such as being abnormally skinny and having these very defining curves. Barbie represents the value system that is in place for women and how it inaccurately portrays beauty. 

The stress of appearing appropriate is also seen in the poem "Girl". Sexuality becomes a large topic in the poem and the risk of becoming a "slut" pops up multiple times. The mother makes it seem like the smallest things can give you that title such as, hemming a dress incorrectly or walking incorrectly on Sunday's. She also taught how to eat her food correctly and keep her hygiene, which are just more examples of how girls are expected to act (Kincaid). Not only are they expected to act a certain way but they are also told to have a certain appearance. It seems that living as a women can be very hard because of expectations to act and certain way and look a certain way.

This isn't just a modern issue, the idea of feminism and women inequality goes way back. It can be seen in the story "The Yellow Wallpaper", which was written in the late 19th century. It portrays how women used to be treated differently and in some cases are still viewed as different. Medically, women have been viewed differently which has led women to insanity because of false theories. The narrator in the story is told multiple times that she only has "temporary nervous depression." (Gilman). Both of the important men in her life tell her that she is "absolutely forbidden to 'work' until" she is healthy again (Gilman 210). She later goes on to say that she personally disagrees with their idea, which is obvious because of the beliefs of rest cure. Women who were put through rest cure often thought it wasn't the right treatment, but because of how women were viewed in society, often looked at as inferior, they are not able to do anything about it. It was clear the treatment was not helping the patient because as the plot progressed the patient becomes more and more insane. Half way through she says, "There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day." (Gilman). If this does not sound like insanity, I do not know what does. The ghost thats in the wallpaper could represent women's inferiority to men and how they feel they are trapped there. Her mental condition continues to get worse through the rest of the story, which is the opposite effect the cure is supposed to have. Reading this text gives you a better idea of how women have been viewed in the past and in some cases still in modern time.

Reading pieces that are based around a similar theme help give the reader a more fulfilling understanding of feminism and the reasoning behind the movement itself. These texts strongly portray the value and ideals of society for different people and different time periods. Each text gives the reader a distinct idea and better understanding of how women were treated and why the feminist movement has progressed the way it has. "Girl" shows the expectations placed on women, "Barbie Doll" shows how women are expected to appear in society, and "The Yellow Wallpaper" shows the mistreatment of women, especially in the medical field. Feminism has progressed greatly since the movement first began in the 1800s. We have now reached a point in modern society where women's careers have progressed like never before. There are women holding positions of power in government, something that decades ago never would have been an option for women. There is still a lot of work to be done but, political, social, and economical equality for women is closer than we have ever seen before and, not just for women but for the whole country as a whole.

