What was the concept of Women and Economics in 1898?

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s book Women and Economicswas published in 1898. While others were concerned with women’s suffrage, Gilman investigated the role of women in a society that was becoming increasingly industrial. In part, her beliefs were based in social Darwinism. She wrote, “We are the only animal species in which the female depends on the male for food, the only animal species in which the sex-relation is also an economic relation.” In her book...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s book Women and Economics was published in 1898. While others were concerned with women’s suffrage, Gilman investigated the role of women in a society that was becoming increasingly industrial. In part, her beliefs were based in social Darwinism. She wrote, “We are the only animal species in which the female depends on the male for food, the only animal species in which the sex-relation is also an economic relation.” In her book she describes how the roles of both men and women grow and progress because of societal change over time.

 Gilman’s concept was based on the need for both a men and women to work outside the home in industrial society. When society was agrarian, women's roles as mothers and homemakers were a necessity. Women produced more children who were needed to make farm life successful. But as society trended toward industrialization, she stressed that woman should be encouraged to find roles in the working world to achieve financial independence.

She questioned women’s subservient position to men both in the home and in the workforce.  Although her ideas sounded radical at the time, her ideas on child care and professionalism in women have come to fruition in contemporary society. Her book planted the seed for societal change. She proposed as women moved into professional roles, others would take on child care and domestic roles. Women would no longer be unpaid wives and homemakers, instead they would achieve financial independence even when they were in stable, married relationships. Her writing urged both sexes to take responsibility for social and economic change.