Men and Women have been treated differently and have been viewed differently throughout history. Is there even a viable reason as to why we as humans have decided to put restraints on our respective genders especially women? Looking at modern day society, especially now, we see that there has been enormous change from past centuries. In 1920 the United States ratified the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. In 2016, Hillary Clinton experienced the first real opportunity to become America’s first female president by becoming the first female nominee of the Democratic Party for the Office of the President of the United States. In this election, women’s rights in general are being put at the forefront as well as in the workplace and in the home; specifically, equal pay for women and women’s rights to reproductive healthcare. Women are breaking new ground every day in the business world with several women serving as chief executive officer of Fortune 500 corporations including PepsiCo, IBM, Xerox, HP, General Dynamics, and Yahoo.  In addition, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics curriculums and career paths are no longer viewed as male oriented and male only. 

Perhaps one of these unqualified restraints is depression. Research shows women are at a higher risk of depression than men; however, the data is inconclusive and very similar across clinical and non-clinical settings and international borders. Researchers have tried to find biological, sociological and physiological explanations but have failed. Some myths about depression in women are that it makes you a weak person. It does not. By comparison, women are not weaker, more selfish, or lazy because of depression and it certainly does not make women less adequate than men if they do have depression. Many of today’s women serve their traditional female roles of wife and mother in addition to working full time in the marketplace, some even with depression. Lastly, depression cannot be willed away and classified as a temporary mood. In adult women depression usually strikes young. It was thought that women between the ages of 15-44 were at the highest risk of depression but new research shows that women even as young as 10 are at a risk of depression. This finding shows that depression might be linked to early adolescence. There are now two depressive disorders, early onset (10-14) and adult onset (15-44). The threat of depression does not increase with age even though woman might experience serious life changing events such as children leaving home and menopause, but we now know that women have reduced risk of depression once they reach 50, which is contrary to previous beliefs that linked menopause and depression. 

At one point in the evolution of our society it was accepted that women are at a higher risk than men for depression. Upon the discovery of this fact a “cure” was said to have been discovered, The Rest and West Cure. This cure was for both men and women who seemed to be overstressed. Per Silas Weir Mitchell women's nervous systems were ticking time bombs with breakdown a "probable possibility" and bed rest the most helpful antidote for both female neurasthenics and their families. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” which was published in 1982 was a defiant response to Mitchell and his “cure”. She published this piece to give people who had not yet experienced the “cure” or who would never in order to provide a glimpse into the world of what it was like for not just her, but all women who were prescribed this “cure” and what it was like to be under Mitchell’s care and all his male doctors. She describes in the essay that she was put on bed rest for the treatment and that she was not allowed to get up or read or write and she was put on a very strict diet. Mitchell said that there should be absolutely no stimulation of the brain so that the women can rest and their brains can recuperate and be “cured”. Her bed was nailed to the floor and there were bars put across the windows.  Upon a closer reading, the essay reads like a metaphor for the typical housewife, stating that the house and bed is where women should stay; this is your domain. As for the bars on the windows that was done so women would not jump out, either to kill themselves or just to escape the confines of their rooms.

The treatment regimen for men was the exact opposite. In contrast, male neurasthenics under Mitchell's care were treated as though their nervousness was a temporary systemic disruption resulting from mental "overstrain," rather than a chronic predisposition: placed within a physically unconstrained environment, they were told to make "productive" use of their minds. The men were prescribed to go out west and hunt, camp out, wrangle in cattle and to read and write.  Men were sent out West to go and do what men were supposed to do per societal norms at the time. They were not controlled and told what to do and when to do it and they were not constricted to anything. They were free, unlike women. Mitchell thought of male nervousness as a question of will. Do you want this or not? If not, here is how to go and fix it. Be a man about it and go out there and face your problems head on.

The reason, it seems that there were two completely different “cures” for men and women was because of the societal norms, which are not the norms anymore. An excellent example today is the ability of women to now serve in combat roles in the military. Women are now able to enter and attempt to complete the Infantry Training School for the United States Marine Corps, complete alongside men at the vetted United States Army Ranger School,  or enter United State Naval Special Warfare training. In my opinion that’s a great thing. There should not be a problem with letting women take jobs that were once thought to be “men’s jobs”. It is a very dumb and outdated social construct and as humans we should all be looking towards the future for what is next and what could be next as opposed to where we are now. Where we are now is good but we could be a lot better; however, this will all come with time. I also think that these problems need to be given time; you cannot rush advancement, especially societal advancement. Patience and temperance are needed for there to be change. 
