The Yellow Wallpaper - Feminist Theory

            Throughout centuries women have been weighed down by a patriarchy society. Women were considered inferior to men and were not allowed to have the same rights and equalities that men had, which is what we call feminism today. Feminism was beginning to emerge in the late 1700's and continued to escalate through the 1900's. Feminism had an impact on female writers in the 1800's for example Charlotte Gilman, and Kate Chopin whose literary works depicted what they were experiencing in their lives.
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             The word feminism has many diverse uses and for "some writers the term feminism refers to a historically specific political movement in the US and Europe; other writers use it to refer to the belief that there are injustices against women- (Hanslanger and Tuana). The history of feminism is broken down into three waves. The first wave begins in the last years of the 1700's and last through the early 1900s. Feminists in this time pursue to gain the same rights that men have. In 1920 the women won and the government passes the nineteenth amendment. Then the second wave of feminism begins in the 1960s and last roughly ten years. This wave focuses on increasing economic chance and ending discrimination against women. Finally the third wave starts in the 1990's and continues to go on through present times. This wave "borrows from post-structural and contemporary gender and race theories to expand on marginalized populations' experiences-(Brizee and Tompkins). Until these waves began women had to endure male domination.
             Kate Chopin was a writer in the first wave of feminism, and she spoke out about feminist issues before the movement became known. Chopin married and moved to Louisiana where women were considered their husbands lawful property. Many of her stories are about women who lived in Louisiana, and she got her inspiration from her own life and the other women around her. She is known for two of her most popular works The Awakening and "Story of an Hour-.