At that time, it was a common belief that all women wanted nothing more than to be married housewives, so people can't even imagine that she would have been happier with her husband not around. As she describes “Free! Free body and soul!” (Chopin 557) She believes that her freedom is a benefit of her husband's death. During this time period, women could not vote, had no right to own their own property, and if they worked outside the home, they had very few jobs that were acceptable in the eyes of society. If husbands were abusive, women very often couldn't do anything about it. Women could not divorce because they would most likely lose custody of their children. This could have had a significant impact on Mrs. Mallard's reaction to that of her husband