Feminist thinkers and their ideas
09 August 2021 13:23
, Charlotte Gilman
13 April 2022 13:49
Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860-1935
Gilman was an American first-wave liberal thinker, though often labelled as
a socialist feminist in the USA.
Gilman's key ideas
• Sex and domestic economics are hand in hand – for women to survive,
they have to depend on their sexuality and body in order to please their
husbands.
• Societal pressure – young girls are compelled to conform in society and
prepare for motherhood by playing with toys and wearing clothes that
are specifically designed for and marketed to them.
She attacked how Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was used to justify male
domination at home and in society.
She argued that women were forced to live a life of domestic servitude, on the
grounds this was their true role.
Gilman's work
• Gilman criticised how girls were socialised into an expectation of
domestic servitude in "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) and "Women and
Economics" (1898).
• She believed there was no rational reason why women should not play
an equal economic role, as they were just as intelligent and capable, so
should have equal opportunities.
Gilman as a feminist
• Gilman campaigned for more radical ideas on the destruction of the
traditional nuclear family, replacing it with communal living and
symmetrical roles for men and women.
• Though a liberal reformer, many of her ideas at the time, would have
been supported by socialist or radical feminists.
09 August 2021 13:23
, Charlotte Gilman
13 April 2022 13:49
Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860-1935
Gilman was an American first-wave liberal thinker, though often labelled as
a socialist feminist in the USA.
Gilman's key ideas
• Sex and domestic economics are hand in hand – for women to survive,
they have to depend on their sexuality and body in order to please their
husbands.
• Societal pressure – young girls are compelled to conform in society and
prepare for motherhood by playing with toys and wearing clothes that
are specifically designed for and marketed to them.
She attacked how Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was used to justify male
domination at home and in society.
She argued that women were forced to live a life of domestic servitude, on the
grounds this was their true role.
Gilman's work
• Gilman criticised how girls were socialised into an expectation of
domestic servitude in "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) and "Women and
Economics" (1898).
• She believed there was no rational reason why women should not play
an equal economic role, as they were just as intelligent and capable, so
should have equal opportunities.
Gilman as a feminist
• Gilman campaigned for more radical ideas on the destruction of the
traditional nuclear family, replacing it with communal living and
symmetrical roles for men and women.
• Though a liberal reformer, many of her ideas at the time, would have
been supported by socialist or radical feminists.
