Women and Economics

Women and Economics (1898) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman argues that women's social and economic dependence on men is a central cause of gender inequality. Gilman contends that traditional marriage confines women to unpaid domestic labor, preventing their full participation in productive economic life. She maintains that women's economic independence-through education, paid work, and social reforms such as shared domestic services-would benefit not only women but society as a whole. The book presents a pioneering feminist analysis of how economic structures shape gender roles and human progress.