<human>:  Why did women writers have to wait until the 20th century to be taken seriously?
<bot>: Women writers were not taken seriously because they were women. Women were not allowed to write, and when they did, they were not taken seriously. In the 19th century, women were not allowed to vote, and they were not allowed to own property. They were not allowed to go to school, and they were not allowed to work. They were not allowed to do anything that men were allowed to do.