For as long as people can remember, women’s right is an issue around the world that is fought every day by people of all genders. Although some may say the problems at hand now are more important, but not having the right to vote until 1920 and being accused of things without a fair fight seems to be more than just a pretty big issue. Throughout the story, Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly, the disturbing story of the mistreatment of women in insane asylums is told and how it is connected to our history of women’s rights. There is a constant theme of suffrage and women’s rights during the essay that were problems all over the world, not just in that asylum. The unfairness in court systems, sexual harassment of women and mistreatment in facilities are all shown in both history and this passage.

           In 1920 when the nineteenth amendment was ratified, women in the United States became one step closer to being able to fight for equality among themselves and men (Women’s rights timeline). Without the right to vote for who they want governing themselves, there would be no way to put someone in position that could fight for them. This relates to when Bly tells her acquaintance, Miss Tillie Maynard, that they were going to have to fight to get out of the asylum,“ ’Are you crazy’ I asked. ‘No’ she replied; ‘but as we have been sent here we will have to be quiet until we find some means of escape. There will be few, though, if all the doctors as Dr. Field, refuse to listen to me or give me a chance to prove my sanity’” (Bly 281). As Bly states throughout the book, most women were thrown in there because someone had accused them of being “crazy”. At this time in history, around 1887, women had little to no rights, especially with voting. Women were expected to clean and cook with no questions asked, they were not supposed to have a say in the judicial system. Even in courtrooms in 1996, almost one hundred years later, 32% of judges say there is still a strong sense of gender bias (Women and social movements in the United States). Part of the whole reason Bly and Tillie are thrown into this insane asylum is because they have no voice of who is in charge of the judicial system because of their lack to vote, therefore have no faith in the justice system and are doomed immediately. In a basically all male-run world the power is put prominently in their hands, leading to a loss of hope for women like Bly and Tillie to have a fair fight at their freedom and even just basic rights. If even almost one hundred years later when women have the right to vote and 30% of all court systems are still biased, one could not even imagine what it was like for Bly and Tillie who basically had zero say in their society. 

           Today and in hundreds of years past, women have been denied jobs they should have been given or given jobs they should have been denied. Women were expected to do only jobs that fit the criteria of being a “woman”. Nurses, bakers, and house moms were “typical” jobs women should have had back in this day, even if they were not capable of any of these jobs. Throughout the novel, we see the incompetence of the nurses and the lack of care from the male doctors. Most of these nurses, especially Miss Grupe, did not even know how to do their real job; “’What is it?’ asked the doctor. ‘Now you know I can’t tell,’ she said. ‘I don’t know; there are some figures there, but I can’t tell.’” (283). Most of these nurses do not even know how to read a scale let alone take care of sick patients who need intense attention, but since “women are suppose to be nurses” and it does not matter their qualification for the job. Some nurses could not even tell a patient’s weight or care for their well being, which not only hurt the patients but the system as a whole. These male Doctors are the head of Blackwell’s island and call all the shots, yet don’t care when the nurses are not doing their job properly, “The nurses returned to the room and Miss Grady remarked that she has ‘settled the old fool for awhile’. I told some of the physicians of the occurrence, but they did not pay any attention to it” (297). All these male doctors ignore beatings of patients and completely sane pleas because it is easier for them when the woman do all the dirty work. It was not until 1971, again almost one hundred years later, that the U.S Supreme Court just ruled against sex discrimination in hiring jobs which still does not solve many issues (Women’s rights timeline). If the process of actually going through and interviewing qualified people to work as nurses in these facilities then the women of these asylums could have gotten better or even been released once they pleaded their sanity. It is the problem of the government just assuming any women is capable of holding the job of a nurse and not only discriminating against the women applying for these jobs but against the women they will be taking care of.

           In a workplace full of so many women and so little men, it could be quite easy for things to get out of hand without anyone knowing any better. An entire island full of insane women and incompetent nurses, the male doctors who have all the power can be mistaken for charming when really they are sexually harassing some of these nurses. When trying to “teach” these nurses, Dr. Kinier makes things slightly flirtatious, “’Five feet five inches, don’t you see?’ taking her hand and touching the figures” (284). Touching a co-worker in a promiscuous way is an issue now, then, and far back in history that could and may never be solved. In one survey, it was reported that one in three women are sexually assaulted at their workspace and not only is sexual harassment growing, it is forming in different ways. Of the one in three women sexually harassed at work, only 29% reported it while 71% let it slip under the rug or thought it was nice “attention” (Vagianos).  It is easy for women to mistake a slight flirt for an aggressive sexual comment or action, such as the action of touching another co worker, like Miss Grupe does. When Dr. Kinier and Miss Grupe have their flirtatious conversations and encounters, they are completely unaware of the fact that Bly is in fact not insane at all and is fully witnessing this awkward and uncomfortable form of sexual harassment, “He gave the nurse more attention that he did me, and asked her six questions to every one of me” (284). Miss Grupe tends to fall under the percentage of woman who thinks this attention is “nice” instead of recognizing it as sexual harassment. Dr. Kinier figured that this was his moment to act, especially since Miss Grupe would be the only reliable witness and it would be his word against hers if anything ever happened. 

           In the mid 1800s, women in factories were working up to fifteen hours a day in harsh conditions that no person would be fit for. They would be lined up all day in hot factories working from 5 AM to 7PM with two half hour breaks throughout all fifteen hours (Halsall) This could be compared to when the nurses in the asylum are ultimately making these women more insane by having them work and sit up straight all day without breaks, “I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy women, shut her up and make her sit from 6 A.M until 8 P.M on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane” (293). Some of the women were also given jobs throughout the day, whether it was to make the beds or scrub the women, they were working all day and constantly being yelled at. These harsh conditions in both the labor world and asylum are completely unacceptable and not until 1847 did a ten hour law pass, forbidding workers to work days longer than ten hours (Halsall). Both women in these circumstances are forced to either sit or work for hours straight with no breaks, causing stress and uneasiness on the brain which would be enough to make someone go crazy.

While women’s rights and movements have improved immensely over the years, history is still there to learn from everyday. From insane asylums to factories to sexual harassment, women every day are mistreated by men, coworkers, and bosses. A connection between history and the passage, Ten Days in a Mad House by Nellie Bly is made with the constant yet subtle mistreatment of women. Power was stripped from them every day and still is an issue that society fights constantly. 
