We have read in textbooks about the countless fights and protests women had to endure to finally achieve the right to vote. Receiving this award was a sign of equality between men and women. This amendment was passed in 1920, however today in 2020 we still see the inequality women face. Although history tells us that women have finally equality, that is completely wrong. There are so many events contradicting these arguments of women being equal. I myself have seen it happen to my mother, aunts, sisters, and even myself. For many of us women, we are viewed as the ones responsible for taking care of children, cooking and cleaning. Many women stop going to school or quit their job because their husbands want them as a housewife. In other words we are subjected to be stay at home wife’s because that’s where we “belong”. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson we see many instances where we see how women were treated by their male role models. In this story feminism is a strong topic manifested throughout the story.   

      In this story it is shown how the main character’s husband ignores her opinions over and over again. Not only does her husband ignore her point of view, but so does her brother. The protagonist tells us how upset it makes her to be completely ignored almost all the time. The way the character deals with this is by simply faking her happiness. The protagonist expresses, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do? I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal- having to be so sly about it.” Here we see the character hiding to do something that she loves. I can associate this experience with my own. A close family friend had told us that she wanted to continue studying and have a career in nursing. Her husband completely disregarded her interest in nursing and said that she didn’t need it and to stop thinking of things that would never happen. Her family didn’t support her dreams either because she had a child and her responsibility was at home with her children and husband. She had no choice but to listen to her husband’s command. This is where we see the inequality in women. She couldn’t disobey her husband because she didn’t have money of her own. If there was really equality, would these types of situations occur? No, because we would have the liberty to be single moms without being judged by society. 

          Significant others are meant to help you on your lowest and highest points of your life. They should be there listening to the things that make you sad, mad, or happy. For the main character of The Yellow Wallpaper this doesn’t apply to her marriage. Through the story there’s a fracture between what we can see and what the narrator informs us. The dramatic irony here makes the story even more devastating. We can see how her husband neglects her feelings but the readers can know that she does nothing to change it. In the story her husband, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” It is clear how the protagonist of the story is dealing with a lot of emotions, the only thing helping her is her writing. My brother in law’s sister can sympathize with this situation. Her husband works all day and gets home really late, never really gets to see his son or wife awake. He’s never home to ask his wife how her day was or if anything is bothering her. When her husband has days off he almost always spends the day giving his employees orders on the phone, making it hard to actually spend time with him. I’ve seen them fighting over and over again never finding a solid solution. He claims that she has no reason why to complain because he provides both of them everything they need. After so much time of fighting and getting nowhere she gave up and now just accepts her faith. Her husband still doesn’t seem to be bothered with the fact that her wife is just unhappy.  

          There have been so many instances where I have seen wife’s being unhappy with their relationship and them just being manipulated to stay. Men use their money and jobs to make their wife’s stay. Many of them don’t like their wife’s to work or earn more than they do and the wife’s have to quit because society has taught them to make their husbands happy.