Throughout the course history females have constantly been seen as inferior to men in many different ways. More specifically, women were given minimal rights concerning their mental health, and the lack of power to control their own lives. They were often institutionalized because of that. Many of the reasons they had been admitted were reasons that shouldn’t have even made them eligible for admittance in the first place. Women also went through extremely unfair treatments for their illnesses while they were being institutionalized. The stories of these women and what they experienced has been brought to attention through the various examples of authors writing journal articles and short stories relating to the topic. There are few resources available for people to learn about the hardships women faced while going through this unnecessary treatment. Sarah Newman, and Ann Douglas Wood both describe throughout their articles the mistreatment of women in 19th century asylums which enrich the understanding of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, and allow the readers to more obviously recognize the oppression of the main character.

Sarah Newman of Kent State wrote a report called “Disability and Life Writing: Reports from the Nineteenth-century Asylum” in 2011 discussing the topic on the abuse of patients in mental asylums during the Nineteenth Century. Throughout the nineteenth century, people with disabilities and those who were declared mentally insane were institutionalized for reasons both justified and unjustified, and were therefore prevented from expressing their voices to the world. These individuals were poorly treated both emotionally and physically by the doctors and nurses at these institutions, and very few nineteenth-century articles are written on this topic because the patients were denied their freedom of expression. Sarah researched various accounts from actual patients during this time to show how unfairly they were treated. She used the example of Phebe Davis and explained why Phebe was confined to a lunatic asylum in Utica, New York; “On her account, she was confined because of her extreme positions for women's rights and against conventional religions, making her "a victim of sectarian circumstances” (267). Newman went on to describe how the doctors picked at every flaw Phebe displayed, including her posture. Being sent to insane asylums during this time period because of individual beliefs was extremely common, in Phebe’s case she was confined because she was a women’s rights activist and that was considered a secular belief to society during this time. Other examples Sarah included were ones related to Phebe’s such as a woman named Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, who was imprisoned because of her religious beliefs not because she was insane. Sarah Newman brings awareness to the tribulations these patients faced during their times at these facilities, and also brought to light the accounts written by these patients in which she found and used to write this report.

Sarah Newman’s report relates to “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman because Gilman’s short story is about the life of an ill young woman during the nineteenth-century. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a woman who is deemed ill by her husband, and is forced to stay in a bland bedroom with ugly yellow wallpaper in their house. She is forbidden to read, work, or write because her husband believes that the only way she will get better is if she rests. One of the common treatments for women, during this time period, who were deemed mentally ill was a treatment referred to as the rest cure. The whole encounter comes from the narrator’s journal that she has had to hide from her husband John. The narrator is undervalued by her husband, and none of her beliefs or opinions seem to matter to him. Originally she wanted her bedroom to be one on the downstairs level of the house that had roses all around the window, and was beautifully decorated. Instead she had to remain in a lonely room with a heavy bed and ugly yellow wallpaper. A large part of the story that relates to the report is the fact that neither the narrator or the patients from actual asylums in the nineteenth-century were able to write about their personal experiences. Patients typically weren’t allowed to write about their encounters because it was believed to prevent them from getting over their illness. The stories from the patients who were unfairly treated in Sarah Newman’s report closely relate to the story of the poor trapped woman that narrates the story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and explains what life was really like for these people. 

Ann Douglas Wood wrote an article on the complaints women had about their treatment throughout nineteenth-century America called "The Fashionable Diseases": Women's Complaints and Their Treatment in Nineteenth-Century America.” Throughout the article she describes how women in general were considered more prone to illness simply because they have a uterus. On page 28 of the journal Wood writes; “…many American women in the middle and upper ranks of society were sick, …. They were ill precisely because they were women.” This is an example of the type of discrimination women typically faced in this society. Wood’s article also relates to Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” because it can be assumed from what the young woman experienced that she was going through the same treatment that women during that time period went through. The rest cure was developed in the late 1800s originally to treat hysteria, and was prescribed more often to women than to men. In some case’s women had to lay in bed for up to six weeks and weren’t allowed to read, write, or even use the bathroom sometimes. The patients were often massaged in order to counteract their prolonged stay in their beds. Throughout the treatment the patients were also expected to steadily eat and gain weight. Gillman writes; “…am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman 648). This excerpt from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the narrator describing how she was prevented from doing any type of work by her husband when she believed that work would actually make her better.  Based off the way the narrator describes what her husband consulted her to do, it can be inferred that she was suffering from post-partum depression. Because of the social status of men and women during this era in history, the woman had no say in the kind of treatment she would receive for the illness she suffered from. As a result of being forced to stay in a room that she didn’t like with the inability to do anything productive, her initial illness progressed to something far worse than it was. The short story Gillman wrote is a very accurate example of what ill women faced when being treated during the late 1800’s. 

Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s story, and the articles written by Sarah Newman and Ann Douglas Wood are all important works of literature that bring attention to what woman of the nineteenth century went through on a normal basis. Although these events occurred in the past the issues are still relevant today because of the prevalence of feminism in today’s society. Modern day, although women have gained equal rights as men stereotyping and oppression still exist. The reason attention should be brought to articles of this topic is for the individuals who strongly support women having equal rights as men and being in control of what happens in their lives. Being educated on what women went through in the past allows individuals to develop sense of the rights women have gained today. 
