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Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Women and Economics.
Gilman's main focus with women and
economics is the relationship having to deal with man and women and
or husband and wife. Can a women be economically independent? Meaning
having all the financial burden or weight on yourself.
Gilman says : “ From the day laborer
to the millionaire, the wife's worn dress or flashing jewels, her low
roof or her lordly one, her weary feet or her rich equipage,--these
speak of the economic ability of the husband... when the woman, left
alone with no man to “support” her tries to meet her own economic
necessities, the difficulties which confront her prove conclusively
what the general economic status of the women is...that the economic
status of women generally depends upon that of men individually,
those to whom they are related.”
“Trophy Wife.” is what comes to
mind. A man provides for his wife all the necessities and or luxuries
that his economic standing can bring in. As if he is getting judge or
looked at by how his wife is maintaining herself and the household.
Gilman looks deeper into to the
relationship between husband and wife or marriage and finds that
there are two different ways to look at it.
- Business
- Partnership
Looking at from point one is that if a
man were to loss his wife his “economic” standing would most
likely not change or be effected, but looking at it as a partnership
would be the opposite. The husbands or mans “economic” standing
may not change but the flow of the household would.
“all living things ate economically
dependent upon others-- the animals upon the vegetables, and man upon
both.” Meaning that everyone is still
dependent on each other in someway or will be at some point in life.
Example: If you are experiencing car
problems and you are a doctor and not a mechanic you will then have
to seek out a mechanic to help fix your car.
Gilman concludes that women or wives
may not have the means to make money on their own to be able to give
things to others in return for something but they do play a
critically role in the husbands or mans way of life. She helps the
man become who is is economically be helping out is different way—the
main way is within the household. (They are the car goofy in the exam above-the husband is the arrow and the mechanic is the outcome.)
This concept does not seem to be as
strong in today’s society because of the evolution of woman’s
rights and opportunities, but still can be found in some household.
I thought this was a really interesting post to read and really like the pictures and examples you provided; it helped clarify the ideas really nicely. I think it's so interesting that you can look at a marriage as a business or partnership, and it's sad to think that at one point problems in the marriage wouldn't even affect the "business" end of things, because it did seem as though women were so dependent on men in that sense. Trophy wife is right, a man would provide as he could and it would almost reflect in the woman as to how he was doing, depending on the life she was living. Things have evolved and it's true this isn't as prevalent anymore, but I can definitely think of some families and households where the ideas you expressed are still very relevant.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interesting read. Yes, trophy wife does come to mind when reading Charlotte Gilman's work. Curiously enough, many of the things Ms. Gilman spoke of remain entrenched in our communal understanding of gender roles to this day. The photos and example cited were a helpful, logical synopsis of a part of Gilman's sociological theory. Adding a personal story/anecdote would've helped further clarify things and given your post a less anti-septic feel (imo). Thanks again for sharing your take on Charlotte Gilman!
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