Ann Douglas Wood's essay "The Scribbling Woman and Fanny Fern: Why Women Wrote" discusses why various women writers published work during the ninteenth century- a time when society demanded women be confined to domestic duties and childcare.
Many female authors were in fact widows, or otherwise disadvantaged by the lack of a male supporter, but still tried desperately to maintain their "femininity." They made excuses for why they must work and tirelessly worked to maintain their delicacy by apologizing and justifying through religion and family.
Fern was significant because she made no apologies for her opinions and beliefs.
Fern essentially argues that women needed to write in order to maintain their sanity and survive. They needed a creative outlet beyond cooking and cleaning that allowed for self-expression.
Fern did not necessarily become a writer by choice- originally it was a way for her and her daughters to survive. She therefore felt no guilt or remorse for her work, despite its harsh stance on male roles in society, because she believed that if men wanted their women to be frail and dependent then they should take care of them- if not how could they expect women to not turn into an independent and resourceful person like Ruth Hall?
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