Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Women and Economics

Denise Knight (SUNY, Cortland)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Domains

Economics
Women's Studies

Dates

First circulation or publication 1898

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-fictional prose

Resources

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Subtitled “A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution,”

Women and Economics

thrust Charlotte Perkins Gilman (then Stetson) into the spotlight and won her international acclaim with its publication in 1898. Translated into seven languages, the book provided an evolutionary context to explain women's economic subordination. Arguing that women's economic dependence on men is detrimental to both genders, Gilman encouraged women to hire professional housekeepers and cooks in order to release themselves from the domestic drudgery that precluded their participation in the outside workforce. Only then, she maintained, could humanity undergo positive change, which would ultimately result in “better motherhood and fatherhood, better babyhood and…

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119 words

Citation: Knight, Denise. "Women and Economics". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8848, accessed 24 November 2024.]