Women's Suffrage with The Yellow Wallpaper

Sarah Foster, Sonia Feldman, Ally Markovich

Women’s Suffrage

One of the most important reasons why women were fighting for the right to vote was because it provided the sense of independence. Throughout history, time and time again, men were shown as the dominant sex. In most societies men were given all the immediate powers, and if a woman wanted something done they’d have to go through a male to get what they wanted. The idea of voting would potentially advance the woman’s place in society and out them on equal levels with men. Being equal to men would allow for more intelligible talk between the women citizens, which is another point women used to gain the right to vote. If the right to vote allowed for the women to associate with more intelligible matters, they could then teach their children better. A smarter “next generation” is good for any society. If women were constantly put into the role as “matron”, then letting women better themselves educationally would allow them to be a better mother. Lastly, the idea of voting gave “lee-way” to other rights that only belong to men, such as the right to own property. Although there was an act past in Mississippi (1839) that allowed for a woman to own property, that luxury was only allowed to a married woman, and although this was a huge step of improvement there was still a whole community of women that were still being oppressed.

All these aforementioned reasons gave rise to various efforts to achieve equality in the polls and finally, total gender equality. One early effort at legal equality occurred in 1839 when Mississippi became the first state to grant women the right to hold property in their own, but only with their husband’s permission.  Later, at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, 300 men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Prepared by Elizabeth Stanton, it is a modification of the Declaration of Independence and a plea for equality, to end discrimination against women. By drawing a parallel between the legislative document upon which the United States government is based, Stanton brings out the contradictory principles based on the treatment of women. Stanton’s Declaration goes on to list the injuries man has imposed upon woman. For instance, women are compelled to submit to laws, “in the formation of which she had no voice.” By depriving women of liberty, she has become property and man has made her, “if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” This perception of women as dead objects provides a foundation for John’s treatment of his wife in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” If his wife is considered “dead,” it is not difficult to understand why he does not consider her opinion as valid, ignores her thoughts and actions, and patronizes her. Ultimately, because women did not gain equality in suffrage that was demanded by the Declaration of Sentiments for another 80 years, the Declaration was not as effective as hoped.

Later, by 1900, every state has passed legislation after New York’s Married Women’s Property Act of 1848, granting married women some control over their property and earnings. By allowing women to own property is a step away from viewing women as man’s property. Finally, in 1920, the women’s suffrage movement achieved its initial goal: the ratification of the 19^th Amendment. The amendment reads: “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and in every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This major achievement for the suffragists ended First Wave Feminism. It was the beginning of future legislation, like the equal minimum wage laws established in 1938.

Amongst the multitude of important dates included in the timeline our group read, one of the events seemed most related to “The Yellow Wallpaper”. In 1908 the case Muller v. State of Oregon reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling upheld Oregon’s 10-hour workday for women. At first glance the law appears to offer positively preferential treatment for women, but upon further examination the reasons behind this law reveal themselves as directly counterproductive to the goals of the women’s rights movement. The limited work day is supposed to preserve women for their primary duty: having babies. If women are overworked, overtired or simply lack the time, not only are miscarriages more likely, but the children that are born would be more likely to grow up under less than ideal circumstances. It was considered the women’s duty to raise the children. She shouldn’t be overburdened with “extracurricular” activities like having financial stability or independence. The law also implies the inherent weakness of women, that they are unable to maintain the same schedule or perform the same tasks as men. Finally, this decision indicates that the Supreme Court supports treating women differently under the law than men, an extremely dangerous precedent at a time when women were fighting for equality.

                This event relates to The Yellow Wallpaper is several ways. The most significant is probably the assumption of female weakness. John continuously references the vulnerability of the narrator’s mind. She is apt to “give way to such fancies” (34). His primary diagnosis for her psychosis is “nervous weakness” (38). Most maddeningly, after “gather[ing] me up in his arms”, John reads her a bed time story and frets that his “little girl” with “get cold” (38-39). Evidence of this perceived weakness is present in John’s use of the rest “cure”. The narrator is presumed to be so fragile and so weak that John requests she naps as often as possible. He is glad when she spends the entire day in bed, watching the wallpaper. The company of friends or her child would be too stressful, too tiring. The tale clearly enunciates the dangers of treating women in this manner. The excessive “rest” only drives the narrator from an initially rather unstable mental state to a complete psychotic breakdown and essential suicide.