Throughout the ages, women writers have had to struggle to have their work recognized. The poet, Sappho, who was born in 615 BCE, was considered to be the "tenth muse" by Plato, yet all that remains of her work is a twenty-eight line poem which was found intact. Mary Shelley, another noted author, wrote "Frankenstein" in 1831 and her novel remains a classic today.
Whether an author finds herself to be published or not depends largely on her background and who she is acquainted with. Anne Bradstreet, the first noted woman to be recognized as an accomplished woman poet struggled to have her work taken seriously. Phillis Wheatly, a slave who was brought to America, had to testify in front of a panel of eighteen men that her work was produced by herself and not stolen.These are just a few examples of the trials that women writers have gone through to become recognized in their craft.
The argument remains whether women writers have struggled throughout history getting their work published and the answer to that is a resounding"Yes!".
As you can see, the women writers mentioned in the above timeline make up a great deal of the literary cannon. However, they are not the only ones that should be included in this list. Julia Ward Howe wrote "The Battle Hymm of the Republic" while she was nursing her baby. Very rarely did a husband help his wife with her writing endeavors, with the exception of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose husband supported her throughout her literary career. Many of these women writers were also intellectual feminists who struggled to get their work recognized and published. Some did so in vain. Those, such as Sappho, whose many works seem to have vanished are, fortunately, remembered and included in the literary cannon.