
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story that discusses the extent of late-19th century gender inequality. The story also provides the reader with insight from a first hand point of view. Gilman was a victim of gender inequality and she wrote this story advocating for change. We have seen the magnitude of gender inequality decrease over the recent years, but this has been a remaining social issue that can date back to the beginning of time. Gilman was able to create a story that shows an accurate depiction of the time period. After reading the text, the audience gets a sense of how prevalent gender inequality was during this period of time. Charlotte Gilman’s excerpt “The Yellow Wallpaper” contrasts well with my two outside sources which help show the differences in gender inequality as time has passed on, and although it is still relevant in today’s world, Eileen McDonagh’s article “The Family-State Nexus in American Political Development “ and Lindsey Meeks’  “Is She ‘Man Enough’?” help highlight the progression that is being made towards diminishing gender inequality. 

“The Yellow Wallpaper” was written in the year 1892, approximately thirty years prior to the nineteenth amendment being passed and granting women the right to vote. From the beginning, the audience gains the sense that the narrator is an expressive women; she speaks what is on her mind and is very imaginative. Unfortunately, it seems that she struggles with an unequal marriage. “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slightly hysterical tendency- what is one to do? … So I take phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas…” (Gilman 300). Her husband restricts her from using her imagination in anyway and as a result she becomes more and more distant from her normal life. She is forced to deal with the fact that nothing she says or does matters because she is a woman. She “personally” disagrees, but knows that her opinion carries no weight and she is unable to better her situation. This is an example of women repression, where a woman’s identity is becoming destroyed due to an unfilled desire for self-expression, and Eileen McDonagh provides some historical context to this in her article. She argues “…that women’s suffrage was delayed in the United States because women’s identification with the family as an institution separated them from formal inclusion in the state (McDonagh).” This means that the social status of a woman during this time was to be a trait for their family, and to only do things that benefit the entire family.  Women were expected to marry and to be nothing less than obedient to their husbands. Although mothers’ maternal roles contributed to the state by guiding their children to become righteous citizens, it is clear that men were still viewed as higher up. In today’s day an age, women are no longer just expected to be a mother to their children, but can hold jobs in a political or business field just like men. Charlotte Gilman was never given an opportunity like this. 

Charlotte Gilman never had the chance to live the life she wanted or deserved to live, but “The Yellow Wallpaper” was the very beginning of a long battle for gender equality. Since then, there are milestones that have been reached, and with every new milestone, marks a serious gain towards complete equality. These gains, whether they are in the realms of politics or the workplace, are all-important and were all pursued for long periods of time. With the progress that is made during this movement comes increased opportunity for women that have the drive to take advantage of it. Many women in the 21st century have now obtained positions and achieved things that would have been widely considered as infeasible at the time “The Yellow Wallpaper” was originally written and published. “In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro became the first female nominee for the White House on a major political ticket when she was named Democratic Party’s vice presidential candidate” (Meeks). This is ninety-two years after the publishing of the story, and although it took almost a decade, the progress that has been made is tremendous. Nobody living in the 1890’s could even fathom the idea of their being a potential woman Vice President. And now, just a little over thirty years since Ferraro was placed on a ballet, the runner-up of the 2016 Presidential election was Hilary Clinton. America has taken great steps in getting closer to complete gender equality but in no means has that been accomplished. “Consider that less than 17% of the U.S. Congress is female as of 2011” (Meeks). This statistic proves that gender inequality is still prevalent in today’s society. That percentage ranks the United States 70th out of 132 in an analysis that was done of women serving in comparable positions (Meeks). Undoubtedly, the percentage of females in U.S. Congress will continue to rise, and the United States will climb those rankings, but it shows that there is still much more to be done. 

This analysis incorporates two outside sources that help to better understand the historical context of this time period, as well as show the progression and change that Charlotte Gilman was trying to advocate when she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper.”  Gender inequality has been and will continue to be prevalent all across the world because social issues of this importance do not resolve themselves overnight, but there is no denying that from the time this story was published until now, the world is headed in a much better direction regarding gender equality.  
