Classics in Gender Studies
2 primary works • 4 total works
Book 1
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Home is a scathing attack on the domesticity of women in the early 20th century. Her central argument, that 'the economic independence and specialization of women is essential to the improvement of marriage, motherhood, domestic industry, and racial improvement' resonates in this work. Throughout, she maintains that the liberation of women-and of children and of men, for that matter-requires getting women out of the house, both practically and ideologically. AltaMira Press is proud to reprint this provocative work and introduce Charlotte Perkins Gilman to a new generation of students and feminist scholars.
Book 2
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Concerning Children reflects her innovative thinking on the social and economic construction of motherhood. In this volume, she takes on American society at its core principles: the betterment of our society through the development of our children. Gilman attacks our conventional model of child rearing, one based on obedience and discipline, rather than on the development of creativity and individuality. She responds to popular practices such as the corporal punishment of children, and proposes new and radical ways of child-rearing including social motherhood, which frees women to pursue careers. Presciently observing more than a century ago that it takes an entire village to raise a child, Gilman's Concerning Children is a must-read for anyone interested in gender and family studies.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's His Religion and Hers is a brave critique of organized religion and the consequences that a male-constructed religion has on everyday life. She suggests that through the development of secular ethics, religion can be directed not to the anticipation of a mythical afterlife, but instead to the transformation of the present. Courageously questioning why 'neither religion, morality, nor ethics has made us good,' she demonstrates the ways in which a male driven ideology has produced a religion focused on death and discourages any attention to the improvement of life on earth. Offering new thoughts that advocate a collective change of view, this volume delves intensively into religion and the influence of gender. Coming generations will welcome this new edition of His Religion and Hers, now with an introduction by noted scholar Michael S. Kimmel.
Human Work represents the first ground breaking analysis on the equal importance of work in the lives of men and women. Noted feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman maintains the notion that it was "sexuo-economic oppression of women" and not women's biology that kept women from achieving in all areas of work. Accusing men of appropriating certain work as "men's work" and masking the process as a biological locus rather than an exercise in power relations, Gilman asserts that men created an economic dependence that has prevented women from success in the workplace. Introduced by noted scholars Michael Kimmel and Mary Moynihan, Human Work is necessary reading for anyone interested in power and gender structures in the workplace.