At the congress she met Jane Adams, the social reformer. Charlotte also toured the United States, lecturing on women's rights.
Throughout the subsequent lectures and written works she was adamant about the need to reform the status of women in society. "Women are human beings as much as men, by nature; and as women, are even more sympathetic with human processes. To develop human life in its true powers we need fully equal citizenship for women."
One of the central aspects on her perception of the role of women was her emphasis on social standards and norms and particularly the importance of the role of the mother in society. "Motherhood is not a remote contingency, but the common duty and the common glory of womanhood" (Gilman1898). www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000421267" She also saw a necessary and important connection between the economic liberation of women and the role of motherhood.
A to serve each other more and more widely; to live only by such service; to develope [sic] special functions so that we depend for our living on society's return for services that can be of no direct use to ourselves; this is civilization, our human glory and race-distinction" (Gilman1898: 74).
Many of Gilman's views, especially her strict view of social norms and race may now seem to be a bit outmoded. However, she did have a lasting influence on modern feminist and social thought and she was named the sixth most influential women in the twentieth century by the Siena Research Institute in 1993. She was also inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York in 1994.
ENDNOTES
The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Society. About Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Accessed October 26, 2004. http://www.cortland.edu/gilman/AboutCPG.htm
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gale. Accessed October 27, 2004. http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/whm/bio/gilman_c.htm
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Litopia. Accessed October 25. 2004. http://www.edwardsly.com/gilman.htm
Sheth, Falguni, and Robert E. Prasch. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Reassessing Her Significance for Feminism and Social Economics." Review of Social Economy 54.3 (1996): 323+. Questia. 29 Oct. 2004 http://www.questia.com/.
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