Judy Champion
Mrs. Patty
ENG 252
17 April 2014
The Struggle for Equal Rights Throughout history women have fought against the stigma of being considered fragile creatures incapable of rational thought and in need of male guidance and protection. Women continually fight for common rights not controlled by gender guidelines. In fact, groundbreaking progress has been made over the past one hundred years. It is not always a winning battle but women continue to witness the growing acceptance within many of the previously male dominated professions, such as author, poet, and journalist. One noted writer, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her short story “The Yellow Wall-paper”, told of the insensitive treatment of women’s mental health by medical professionals during the 1800’s. Some of the most notable examples of inequality are vividly evident in the basic rights and privileges we enjoy in the 21st century. Rights that were denied women in the US in the 1800s such as the right to vote, the right to retain ownership of her property upon marriage, and competent medical treatment.
Women’s right to vote was a long, difficult battle. Early leaders of women’s rights like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began their work as abolitionist with the intention of stopping slavery and obtaining basic rights for the Negros. Likewise, they began to realize how few rights women actually had and decided to take on the challenge to change things; “This growing understanding of the condition of women led to the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1884.”(Gianoulis). Sadly, just because the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified by congress did not mean it was accepted with open arms by all states. In 1869, in a groundbreaking move, Wyoming became the first state to allow women over twenty-one the right to vote. As related in Women in U.S. Politics: “In 1893 Colorado became the first state to allow women’s suffrage, and by 1920, 30 states . . . had already granted women full suffrage . . . In August 1920 Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. With three-quarters of the states having ratified the amendment, all American women were granted the right to vote”.
Roles were clearly defined in the 1800s. As a result, a woman’s value was often directly related to how much property, wealth or social status she could bring to a marriage. Purdy says, “the fact that married women were legally subservient until the 19th century is not well known”. Many women chose to remain single or widowed in order to maintain some control of their own lives and property. Women began to question this restrictive role and fought against; “The doctrine of coverture, practiced throughout the United States, . . . married women were covered by their husbands and had no separate legal existence” (Purdy). Women’s groups began to campaign for equal rights amendments for women at both the national and state level. The year 1925 saw the first ever congressional hearings on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Incidentally, most amendments are given seven years to win ratification by the needed thirty-eight states, but the ERA was given a three-year extension. Unfortunately, the ERA was never ratified and added to the U.S. Constitution, but according to Purdy, “it could be argued that the defeat of the ERA paved the way for the success of the goals of the amendment.”
As women in the 20th Century many of us take for granted the many health benefits afforded us. A look back to the 1800’s will cause most to thank the women’s movements for the changes that have taken place. Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced some very dark days after marrying and having her first child. Some of what she felt would today be diagnosed as Post-Partum Depression. In her short story “The Yellow Wall-paper” the heroine is never named, only referred to as John’s wife, John being a “physician of high standing” does not believe his wife is sick. The story parallels Gilman’s life during her marriage. Gilman was treated by S. Weir Mitchell, a prominent physician and greatest nerve specialist in the country at the time. His treatment for her consisted of being put to bed and kept there. Ann Douglass explained, “Mitchell’s method was almost universally applauded because most American physicians at the time “tended unconsciously to see the neurologic ailments of their female patients as a threatening and culpable shirking of their duties as wives and mothers, and to look upon those duties as the cure, not the cause, of the illness” (The Early Years). Gilman describes her treatment almost word for word in The Yellow Wall-paper. This type of medical treatment for women has really changed in the 21st century, because only recently has the medical profession begun to take the neurological problems of women seriously. Through the 19th and even through most of the 20th century women were considered to be weak willed, unable to cope with the daily grind of being a wife and mother, and just wanting attention from their husbands. It has been well documented that depression and post-partum depression can cause many debilitating problems for women. Although we have seen no laws written about health care expressly for women, we see many more women in the medical field than in the 1800’s.
In conclusion, it is clear to see the right to vote, the right to own property and have holdings in her name, and the right to good medical care are only the beginning of all the battles that have been won for the modern woman. In today’s society we see women in all fields of the work force. The ratio of men to women may not yet be equal but because of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Carrie Chatman Catt, women have the right to choose what profession they want to work in. Because of these courageous women we see women in the law profession, the medical profession, women architects, women engineers, and many more professions that used to be afforded only to men. We see women as the CEO of multi-million dollar companies. Women are allowed to buy a home and property as well as adopt a child as a single parent. I think we can say the struggle for equal rights for women has come a long way baby!

Works Cited
Gianoulis, Tina. "Feminism." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 84- 87. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
"The Early Years." Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gary Scharnhorst. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985. 1-33. Twayne's United States Authors Series 482. Twayne's Authors on GVRL. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
"Women in U.S. Politics." Women in American Society. Melissa J. Doak. 2010 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 123-134. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.