Women and economics : a study of the economic relation between men and women as a factor in social evolution / by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Date:
- 1915
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Women and economics : a study of the economic relation between men and women as a factor in social evolution / by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ure, in close, direct, permanent connection with the needs and uses of society. This is especially needed for women, who are generally considered, and who consider themselves, mere fractions of families, and incapable of any wholesome life of their own. The knowledge that peace and comfort may be theirs for life, even if they do not marry,— and may be still theirs for life, even if they c]0>—will develope a serenity and strength in women most beneficial to them and to the world. It is a glaring proof of the insufficient and irritating character of our existing form of marriage that women must be forced to it by the need of food and clothes, and men by the need of cooks and housekeepers. We are absurdly afraid that, if men or women can meet these needs of life by other means, they will cheerfully renounce the marriage rela¬ tion. And yet we sing adoringly of the power of love! In reality, we may hope that the most val¬ uable effect of this change in the basis of living will be the cleansing of love and mar¬ riage from this base admixture of pecuniary interest and creature comfort, and that men and women, eternally drawn together by the deepest force in nature, will be able at last to meet on a plane of pure and perfect love. We](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29815083_0318.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
