Editing Charlotte Perkins Gilman (section)

=== Reform Darwinism and the role of women in society ===
{{Progressivism sidebar|expanded=activists}}Gilman called herself a [[humanism|humanist]] and was an early contributor to the discipline of [[sociology]] and to [[feminist theory]].<ref>"Charlotte Perkins Gilman--Gender and Social Structure," in "The Women Founders: Sociology & Social Theory, 1830-1930" by Patricia Madoo Lengermann and Gillian Niebrugge.(Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2006).</ref> She believed the domestic environment oppressed women through the [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] beliefs upheld by society.<ref>Ann J. Lane, ''To Herland and Beyond'', 230.</ref> Gilman embraced the theory of reform [[Darwinism]] and argued that Darwin's theories of evolution presented only the male as the given in the process of human evolution, thus overlooking the origins of the female brain in society that rationally chose the best suited mate that they could find.

Gilman argued that male aggressiveness and maternal roles for women were artificial and no longer necessary for survival in post-prehistoric times. She wrote, "There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver."<ref>Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ''Women and Economics'' (Boston, MA: Small, Maynard & Co., 1898).</ref>

Her main argument was that sex and domestic economics went hand in hand; for a woman to survive, she was reliant on her sexual assets to please her husband so that he would financially support his family. From childhood, young girls are forced into a social constraint that prepares them for motherhood by the toys that are marketed to them and the clothes designed for them. She argued that there should be no difference in the clothes that little girls and boys wear, the toys they play with, or the activities they do, and described tomboys as perfect humans who ran around and used their bodies freely and healthily.<ref>Carl N. Degler, "Charlotte Perkins Gilman on the Theory and Practice of Feminism", ''American Quarterly'', Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1956), 26.</ref>
[[File:Articles by and photo of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1916.jpg|left|thumb|270x270px|Articles about [[feminism]] by Gilman and a photo of her as printed in the ''[[Atlanta Constitution]],'' December 10, 1916]]
Gilman argued that women's contributions to civilization, throughout history, have been halted because of an [[androcentrism|androcentric]] culture. She believed that womankind was the underdeveloped half of humanity, and improvement was necessary to prevent the deterioration of the human race.<ref>Davis and Knight, ''Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Her Contemporaries'', 206.</ref> Gilman believed economic independence is the only thing that could really bring freedom for women and make them equal to men. In 1898 she published ''Women and Economics'', a theoretical [[treatise]] which argued, among other things, that women are subjugated by men, that motherhood should not preclude a woman from working outside the home, and that housekeeping, cooking, and child care, would be professionalized.<ref>Gilman, ''Women and Economics''.</ref> "The ideal woman," Gilman wrote, "was not only assigned a social role that locked her into her home, but she was also expected to like it, to be cheerful and gay, smiling and good-humored." When the sexual-economic relationship ceases to exist, life on the domestic front would certainly improve, as frustration in relationships often stems from the lack of social contact that the domestic wife has with the outside world.<ref>Degler, "Theory and Practice," 27.</ref>

Gilman became a spokesperson on topics such as women's perspectives on work, [[Victorian dress reform|dress reform]], and family. Housework, she argued, should be equally shared by men and women, and that at an early age women should be encouraged to be independent. In many of her major works, including "The Home" (1903), ''Human Work'' (1904), and ''The Man-Made World'' (1911), Gilman also advocated women working outside of the home.<ref>Degler, "Theory and Practice," 27–35.</ref>

Gilman argued that the home should be socially redefined. The home should shift from being an "economic entity" where a married couple live together because of the economic benefit or necessity, to a place where groups of men and groups of women can share in a "peaceful and permanent expression of personal life."<ref>{{cite book|last=Gilman|first=Charlotte Perkins |editor1=Kolmar |editor2=Bartkowski |name-list-style=amp |title=Feminist Theory |url=https://archive.org/details/feministtheoryre00wend|url-access=registration|year=2005 |publisher=McGraw Hill|location=Boston|page=[https://archive.org/details/feministtheoryre00wend/page/114 114]|isbn=9780072826722 }}</ref>

Gilman believed having a comfortable and healthy lifestyle should not be restricted to married couples; all humans need a home that provides these amenities. She suggested that a communal type of housing open to both males and females, consisting of rooms, rooms of suites and houses, should be constructed. This would allow individuals to live singly and still have companionship and the comforts of a home. Both males and females would be totally economically independent in these living arrangements allowing for marriage to occur without either the male or the female's economic status having to change.

The structural arrangement of the home is also redefined by Gilman. She removes the kitchen from the home, leaving rooms to be arranged and extended in any form and freeing women from the provision of meals in the home. The home would become a true personal expression of the individual living in it.

Ultimately the restructuring of the home and manner of living will allow individuals, especially women, to become an "integral part of the social structure, in close, direct, permanent connection with the needs and uses of society." That would be a dramatic change for women, who generally considered themselves restricted by family life built upon their economic dependence on men.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilman |first=Charlotte Perkins |editor1=Kolmar |editor2=Bartkowski |name-list-style=amp |title=Feminist Theory|url=https://archive.org/details/feministtheoryre00wend |url-access=registration |year=2005|publisher=McGraw Hill|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/feministtheoryre00wend/page/110 110–114]|isbn=9780072826722 }}</ref>