Sexism in A Jury of Her Peers

Throughout A Jury of Her Peers, underlying tones of sexism and gender tension can be seen frequently. The men in this short story makes constant accusations about how the women care about trivial things and fail to recognize what's really important. We can clearly recognize this accusation as Mr. Peters says, "Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves!" (264). Specifically, he is referring to Minnie Foster here, but he uses the plural version of "women" not "woman", thus implying that all women worry about such trivial things as preserves even when faced with life-threatening situations like being accused of murder. Mr. Hale goes on to fuel this clear stereotype as he proclaims, "Women are used to worrying over trifles."

The women, especially Martha Hale, experience anger as these men ridicule their sex. For instance, after the men have ridiculed females for their inattention to details, Martha has to release "herself from something strange," implying that Martha's anger is that "something strange," which she feels as these men clearly judge and ridicule all women (266). This is just one example of the gender tension that occurs throughout the short story.

What's ironic about all this sexism and belief that men are superior to women is that it is the women who discover the evidence that would suggest a motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. Mr Hale states, "But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?" (266). This disdainful remark suggests that women are too stupid and worry about too trivial things to notice a clue when they see one. However, it is the women who discover the strangeness in Minnie's quilt, Minnie's failure to finish her chores, and finally the dead bird, which Minnie loved so much. They discover the motive and evidence that Minnie was extremely stressed and Mr. Wright's murder of her bird would have pushed her over the limit. Meanwhile, the men are busy looking for obvious clues around the house, such as a blood stain, or a note, or anything that would clearly point to Minnie as the murderer. This clearly ironic situation serves to disprove the men's disdainful accusations about women and questions the view that men are superior to women.