She said that the world was masculinist as the male dominance has been extended to all areas of life, including language thus, she argued being a humanist who wished to bring about a fair balance (Lane 5). Although she is today known as a feminist, she saw herself as a humanist and even argued that the term ‘feminism’ should be retitled as ‘humanism’ (Allen 5). Moreover, she worked on new strategies for rearing and educating future generations to achieve a humane and nurturing environment (Lane 3-4). She not only explained the origins of women’s subjugation but also focused on the struggle to achieve both autonomy and intimacy in human relationships (Lane 3-4). She elaborated on the major issues of gender, which are still problematic today. In her writing, she examined existential issues that were problematic for the women of her time (Kessler 1). She provided a theoretical account of the roots and reasons of women’s ‘sex subjection’ and devised reform proposals designed to stop women’s subordination (Allen 2). She was a feminist theorist who identified women as a sexed group subordinated by and in the interests of men (Allen 2). She assumed suffrage advocacy to be an obvious marker of the growing unrest among women, no longer willing to be parasites, dependents, living through their sex functions alone.” (Allen 135-136) Nevertheless, progress for women should not be measured only by the number of states that grant suffrage to women but rather by the legal, social, mental, and physical changes (Degler 11). As a confirmed suffragist, she considered the question of women in society as her province (Degler 11).
Degler calls her “the major intellectual leader of the struggle for women’s rights during the first two decades of the twentieth century” (11). “Feminism makes a practice of questioning hierarchical structures and divisions of labor, power, and discourse.” (Bartkowski 14) This is what Gilman questioned, too. Feminism in Herland and Charlotte Perkins GilmanĬharlotte Perkins Gilman is one of the most significant Western feminist theorists from the year 1890 to 1920 (Allen 1).
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