"A Jury of Her Peers"

“A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell

Question 3

The men in the story share the common assumption that women work in the kitchen and take care of the house. For example, “ ‘Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?’ ” (Glaspell, 412). Men also believe that women are not capable of intelligent and critical thinking especially when it comes to finding criminal clues.  “ ‘But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?’ ” (Glaspell, 413). They try to show that women are not their inferiors by leaving them on their own to do things and trusting them. In addition, after stating typical stereotypes about women, the men would appear to be appreciative of what women did. For example, “ ‘And yet,’ said he, with the gallantry of a young politician, ‘for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?’ ” (Glaspell, 412). Their assumptions are ironic because they were unable to find any evidence of Mrs. Wright murdering her husband. Instead, the women found evidence and decided not to share it with the men. The women stuck together because they knew the hardships that Mrs. Wright had to face. The clues that led to finding the evidence were through details that only women would have noticed, such as the stitching on a quilt and the messiness of the kitchen. Keeping the evidence is in a way getting back at the men for their assumption that women are inferior.