The Yellow Wallpaper, written in 1892, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, made many people question and talk about what the real problem in this story was. During this time period, 1850s-1920, the women’s rights movement was a big deal. Women were tired of being thought of as inferior to men and this is when many women started standing up for themselves. Many women struggled with their husbands controlling their lives and calling all of the shots for them. This leads in to women not having much of a say for their health. During this time, many women after giving birth can suffer from nervous depression, and this is what the main character was going through. Her husband, being the high standing doctor that he was, automatically believed his wife was insane and had her confined in this bedroom of a summer house, away from anyone she knew, until he thought she was better. Even her own father believed her husband instead of listening to his daughters wants. Whether the wife was actually insane or not, this proves how little say women had in their marriages. Gilman shows the male dominance of this time period, so she can also get her point across that so many women were misdiagnosed for being insane, when they really were not. Many sources state women were misdiagnosed insane and were not able to be believed that they were not because of their husbands or men in their life, who were thought to be more credible then them, just because of gender and I believe this shows why women started to make a stand, which led to the women’s rights movement. 

 Since the beginning of time, men have always been looked at as the more dominant, strong gender. For example, in the history books we learned from in grade school, men have always been the hunters and fighters for tribes, while women were the ones who stayed home with the kids or gathered supplies for the men. In addition, men have ruled kingdoms and dynasties, while they have had many wives serving and being inferior to their husbands all throughout the world in the past. I am not saying I agree with how the men were superior to the women, but this has always been a part of society. In relationships, men have always been the one in the to look after the family and wife. This does not need to be looked upon as a horrible thing though. Some, think men should be the dominant figure, for obvious reasons of being stronger and can protect their family; however, some think men and women should play an equal role that way one does not have more power than the other. It all depends on how one looks at this role play, but women, for centuries, have been trying to get other women to realize how they need to make a stand, so women and men can be looked at in an equal light. 

So, finally the 1850s came along and this is where the women’s right movement started. Women were tired of their husbands, brothers, and fathers, having more job choices, larger salaries, and even a say if they were mentally stable or not. Women had a hard time trying to get any laws passed in their favor considering the government was run by all males because only males able to get a job that high up. Many, “woman suffragists argued that women were no more disabled than many men who were allowed to vote and that female characteristics labeled as gender-specific disadvantages were only disabilities under laws and customs crafted by men,” which proves a good point how the entire political body were men, and these men were in favor for men’s’ rights (Jean Quataert and Leigh Ann Wheeler 8). There were some men, who thought women should be heard and this, and the many women who led protests and fought for women’s rights, were the ones who led women from behind the shadows of men. For such a long time women thought it was normal and okay that they obey their husbands and the men in charge, even if what the men were saying, was wrong. 

Even before the time that the Yellow Wallpaper was written, changes were already being made in favor for women. In 1869, Wyoming was the first state to grant women complete voting rights. Women fought for many years to have the rights that they have today. Even with all these changes for women happening, women were still nowhere close to where men were on the totem pole. Just because of, “physical delicacy, emotional frailty, mental inferiority, and maternity all were cited as evidence that women were less able,” then men were in anything (Jean Quataert and Leigh Ann Wheeler 8).  It took over 60 years, not until 1920, for the 19th Amendment to get passed. This granted the complete right for women to vote. This was a huge deal when it was passed because men still thought of women as people who were not as educated or advanced as them. So, for women to have a say in something so important, like voting for the President of the United States or even just a governor, men were insulted and baffled. Even President Taft, did not fully support for women’s, all of a sudden rights they were gaining. When the President of the United States does not even fully support you, it is hard to gain support from anyone.

Women, still to present day, struggle with being inferior to men. They have gained many rights that have pretty much put men and women in an equal light. Today, the situation that happened in the Yellow Wallpaper, where the narrator’s husband confined her to a bedroom because he thought she was insane, would never happen. Maybe a husband would try and do this to his wife, but since men and women are equal, they both are equally listened to. Still women to continue to be looked as equals to men. Currently, there is a woman, Hillary Clinton, running for the first women President. Many look at this as huge progress for women and the opportunities that will come out of it. Women will continue to fight for equality until men and women are completely equal.
