English 4 Honors
Perhaps, men Should Think Twice Before Dismissing the Minds of Women
Men underestimating the intelligence of women is a narrative as old as time. Trifles by Susan Glaspell is an example. The 1916 one act play tells the story of two men investigating a murder, accompanied by their wives who are also subtly looking for clues. The men believe that women are only focused on small, trifling things and pay them no attention. These so-called trifles that their wives are concerned about are actually all the pieces of evidence that could solve the case. If the men of the story, a sheriff and county attorney, understood that the women are just as smart as them (if not more) they would have taken a closer look at what was so interesting about the kitchen and the things the women found there. They brushed them off and reduced their findings to mere trifles, therefore overlooking all of the hints Mrs. Wright left. This paid off for Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, though. Having their intelligence diminished allowed them to keep the clues they found to themselves and essentially save Mrs. Wright from being convicted of murder. But does this make the miscalculation of female intellect okay? While it worked out for the women of Trifles, this is not always the case.
Undoubtedly, the ideology that women arent as smart as men is a toxic one. It hinders women not only mentally, but out in the real world as well. Men continue to thrive, especially when it comes to fields of wo...
