"In the past, when women picked up a pen, they often picked up a pen name, too. "

Women have come a long way in all different areas of life. One such area where advancements are clear is in literature. In the past women could not publish their work under their name simply because people would not buy their books if it was written by a woman. Many great writers were forced to hide behind pseudonyms.

Today, women writers don't have to pretend to be men in order to get published. Any girl or woman (even one named Mudpie) can use her own name. Thanks to women like George Eliot and A. M. Barnard, girls and women can write what they want and be whoever they want to be.

Thanks to women such as Mary Ann Evans (George Elion) and Louisa May Alcott (A.M. Barnard) we can write and be published today. These women proved that they could write just as well as men despite the fact that they weren't men. They helped pave they way for so many women to come but their success did not come without a price. Both these women (and I'll go into more detail about each in later blogs) suffered criticism from friends, family, and the public for "writing books inappropriate for a woman".
Today we take what these women did for granted.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+cdehtTveoxbtqA68n+9hhnW+xFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

Here's a list of just some of the many women who paved the way for women writers today with pseudonyms.

http://www.gurl.com/showoff/spotlight/pages/0,,670630,00.html