We Women Have to Stick Together, Right?

"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell

Glaspell assails sexism with "A Jury of Her Peers", a story in which negative prejudices against women cause a group of men to overlook key evidence in a murder investigation.  The story centers around the actions of Mrs. Wright, a lonely housewife found rocking calmly in her chair while her husband lay dead on the floor above.  The local sheriff, his wife Mrs. Peters, a county attorney, and the Hales try to dig up information concerning Mr. Wright's untimely death by searching the scene of the crime.  The men, befitting their sexist attitudes, leave the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters alone, thinking them too stupid to be of any help to the investigation.  Ironically, however, their perspective as fellow women and housekeepers allows them to slowly solve Mr. Wright's murder.  First, Mrs. Hale notices that Mrs. Wright left some task half finished around her house and wondered, "Why had that work been left half done?" (Glaspell).  The men saw this unfinished work and thought nothing of it, but Mrs. Hale knew it was a clue.  Eventually, after noticing an unruly stove and some imperfect stitching, Mrs. Hale decided to search Mrs. Wright's sewing kit.  Guided by her female instincts, Mrs. Hale found the critical piece of evidence needed to explain Mrs. Wright's motives: a precious canary, strangled in cold blood by Mr. Wright.  Ultimately, in a fit of irony, Mrs. Hale's womanhood allowed her to solve the case.  Realizing this, feeling a bond with Mrs. Wright as a fellow woman, and despising the sexism she had been subjected to, Mrs. Hale chose not to present her critical piece of evidence and allowed Mrs. Wright a chance at exoneration.