Mrs. Rogaum's Analysis

For as long as there have been women, there has been sexism. Women could not vote, fight in wars, or divorce their husbands for centuries. Though women have been gaining rights over the years until modern time, it is a slow process. For a long time, women were not encouraged to receive an education. In 2013, women are 48% more likely to complete graduate school than men are. However, even though the majority of women are more educated, there is still a gender pay gap. White women earn 78% of what a white man makes, and the gap increases dramatically for women of color or disabled women. This issue, though still a very important issue, is still very much an improvement from the early twentieth century. People are beginning to become more
In the short story Old Rogaum and his Theresa, Mrs. Rogaum wants to let Theresa inside of the house, but is not listened to due to the fact that Theresa was outside with a boy for longer than usual. However, she is not respected enough for her to get her wish. “Still she was not powerful enough in the family councils to put in a weighty word,” page four. Even though she has birthed three children and raised them whilst her husband worked as a butcher, she does not have the final say. She arguably knows these children best, and yet she does not have control of whether or not they spend the night out on the streets. When she does plead for Theresa to be let in, (“Hadn’t you better let her in now, yet?” pleaded Mrs. Rogaum faintly.) she is automatically shut down. If the roles had been reversed and Mr. Rogaum had wanted Theresa inside, while Mrs. Rogaum has wanted her locked out, she would have been labeled as unnecessarily cruel and Theresa never would have been left outside. This problem of women being ignored is shown yet again in Yellow Wallpaper, when main character Jane is told that she has temporary nervous depression. Even though she would know her own mind best, she is shut down whenever she mentions that she might have something else, and something more serious than that. Jane’s internal dialogue shows just how little she is being listened to about her concerns. John tells her that she is the only person who can help herself out of this “temporary nervous depression,” and that she should not let any silly fancies run away with her. What he views as silly fancies are legitimate and accurate concerns of hers, but he does not listen. She attempts, multiple times, to say that she believes she has more than just post-partum depression, but she is immediately shut down every