Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a well-known writer and activist in the late 19th century. Her theories on the roles of women in society remain as relevant today as they did then, including her contention that the only reason women could be subjugated in society was if they were denied the ability to become independent financially.

The majority of Gilman’s work and writings were completed after she had suffered a kind of nervous breakdown that was prevalent amongst middle and upper class women of her time. The causes of this syndrome are now attributed to the lifestyle of women of privilege at that time, and the desire of men in the medical world to further destroy the place of women healers and midwives in society.

When Gilman was afflicted, a Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell treated her. His prescription was the “rest cure” that he developed. It included total bed rest, foods rich in dairy fat, and electrotherapy. In Gilman’s case, when she was released to go home, his advice to her was to “Live as domestic a life as possible. Have your child with you all the time. Lie down an hour after each meal. Have but two hours intellectual life a day. And never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live.”

Living in this fashion, even if in the best of health previous to this advice, could easily compromise any woman’s physical and mental health. The treatment in itself was a symptom of male society’s desire to subjugate women, and in particular, male medical society to cast women as patients as opposed to healers.

Obviously, Gilman did not strictly follow Dr. Mitchell’s advice. She, in a moment of self-reflection, realized that she had no desire to be a wife. Her work as a writer and activist began in earnest after she divorced her husband, and moved across the country with her daughter. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a fictionalized account of Gilman’s near lethal rest cure, and she forwarded it to Dr. Mitchell in the hope that he would reconsider his great treatment plan.

While Gilman’s works continue to be studied and cited in many academic circles, Dr. Mitchell is largely forgotten outside of the realm of medicine – more specifically in neurology. His rest cure is a footnote, but the perception that women are more frail than men remains.