Kayla Riggs

Women Writers Looked Over

In literature class, women writers are often overlooked. This isn’t because students or professors do not want to capture more work on them, but simply because back in certain era’s writing was not a familiar place for women. Women generally are depicted as the house wife, nurturing, and quiet type. They are portrayed to stay to themselves, that the education field was not their grounds to cover. Men have the superiority to write books, narratives, essays, etc… not women. Therefore, in our literature classes, men are seen to be the educated, men are studied and analyzed, men make up our discussions in class. Women writers are nonchalantly overlooked. Of course, there are plenty of women who were born to develop the typical role of a woman during the 1700’s or early 1800’s. But what about the women who wanted to grasp something more out of life? Those who set out to have an education, an individual life without kids and a husband, a life where they could write and be at peace with making a difference, what were those women to do during this time period? “As women were cast into the feminine, maternal role in Romantic national discourse, women like these who defined themselves in other terms found themselves exiled… sometimes literally… from the nation” (Keane). Women who had the ability to write amazing things did not fit in through society, even if they did end up writing a piece of literature, they are still not known today because we do not explore most of the women writers.

Women writers were ignored mostly because they were feminists hoping to write about women needing certain things equal to men. This is the main reason why women writers became less important. The superior people in the society did not want women coming around developing their own thoughts and opinions about why women should be as popular as men. It was a man’s society, women stayed out of it for the most part. This objective, to keep women feminists away from drawing more equality, kept the few women who just wanted to write simply on nature and other things out of the picture. A few women, who wanted equality for themselves, lost the whole writing battle for the other women. Therefore, women who just wanted to write were not allowed and if they did write, then it was pointless. So, even if what they wrote was interesting and brilliant, there was generally no hope for them to become famous or worthwhile. This is why there are few women we study in literature classes. Wouldn’t it be intriguing to know some women who tried to make it in a man’s world? Ann Franklin in 1762, who was the sister of Benjamin, was the first woman newspaper editor in Rhode Island. Anne Hopkins in 1645, was the wife of the governor of Hartford, was taken in for medical help because she has “written many books”. Sarah Fisk in 1701 was a spiritual autobiographer. Hannah Adams in 1784 is known to be the first professional woman writer in the US. This information is very intriguing, maybe because these women really were brilliant and life changing, or maybe because men find it defensive that these women had educations.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it is men’s fault that women do not have a place in literature classes. But, it is “a man’s world” and anything going against men could be perceived to be negative. I feel as though this had an effect on women and their writing during the 18^th century. I found a lot of insight on women writers, from the Romantic Era, the Gothic Era, the Middle Ages, and more. In the preface by Woodworth, it discusses women writers and how they display men. This is very important for the knowing of why women writers are overlooked because if women display men poorly then why would men let them write about them? Like I said above, most women writers were feminists, trying to conquer the equivalence of men, therefore displaying them to be awful. If someone were bashing me, why would I let them have the free will to write about it? “Make them women free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as men become more so; … the virtue of a man will become wormeaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet” –Mary Wollstonecraft speaking about the vindication of rights of women (Woodworth preface). I think this quote is brilliant and quite humorous. It portrays the simple fact of what women will do if they are famous for their writing. This is another reason why women were overlooked.

As time plays on, women writers are becoming more important. The level of free will for women has improved enormously and this gives them the opportunity that women in the 18^th century would have loved to have. In our era today, women writers are just as equivalent to male writers and it is astonishing to see this happen. Hopefully, one day when students are learning about our time frame, they will not overlook the women writers and will study them just as in depth as they will study the men. Although students can’t change the syllabus for their literature classes, we can try to maximize all efforts to not overlook these women who tried to change the world as well.

Works Cited

Davidson, Cathy N., Linda Wagner-Martin, and Elizabeth Ammons. The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Print.

Fronius, Helen. Women and Literature in the Goethe Era, 1770-1820: Determined Dilettantes. Oxford: Clarendon, 2007. Print.

Gilleir, Anke, Alicia Montoya, and Suzanna Van. Dijk. Women Writing Back/writing Women Back: Transnational Perspectives from the Late Middle Ages to the Dawn of the Modern Era. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Print.

Keane, Angela. Women Writers and the English Nation in the 1790s: Romantic Belongings. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 2000. Print.

Woodworth, Megan A. Eighteenth-century Women Writers and the Gentleman's Liberation Movement: Independence, War, Masculinity, and the Novel, 1778-1818. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2011. Print.