Fragility In Women And Economics By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman argues about the fragility of women within the pecuniary sphere and how the economic standing for all people is defined and controlled by men. According to Gilman, human females are the only ones directly attached and solely dependent on men unlike other female species. In ‘Women and Economics,’ she examines the traditional roles of women and how this limited view prevents them from obtaining any economic dependence or identity outside of their husbands. Women do not “produce or distribute wealth,” which she finds highly problematic and cause for social and economic reform.
During Gilman’s time, women were largely regulated to performing house duties such as cleaning, cooking, rearing children and nurturing the family. …show more content…
Marx focuses on who controls the means of production, which he asserts creates class divisions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. For Marx, it was a matter of the rich versus the poor however; for Gilman, the labor problem is one caused be gender oppression, which creates division based on gender differences as opposed to class. And in this case, women are the proletariat and men make up the bourgeoisie. Men control the means of production and essentially run society and establish dominant ideologies while women are regulated to domestic work that they are obligated to because they are women. Additionally, Marx would agree that women suffer from alienation because they are restricted to specialized labor [domestic work] that does not allow them to do anything else. This keeps them in the home with no outside opportunities to expand their skills. And ultimately, like the proletariat, women are defined by their roles [although not in the workplace] within the larger society and how they contribute to production. The proletariat produces goods while women produce children and take care of the men that control and maintain