The Home: Its Work and Influence [Paperback]

What makes this book different is its temporal context. . . . I became fascinated by the description of a woman's lifeworld within a 'typical' middle-class, American home of only 100 years ago. . . . The Home: Its Work and Influence can be considered a classic in gender studies.Reprint of 1903 edition of Gilman's classic indictment of domestic life, offering a program of domestic reform that inspired women at the beginning of what became a century-long struggle.Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Home is a scathing attack on the domesticity of women in the early 20th century. Her central argument, that 'the economic independence and specialization of women is essential to the improvement of marriage, motherhood, domestic industry, and racial improvement' resonates in this work. Throughout, she maintains that the liberation of womenand of children and of men, for that matterrequires getting women out of the house, both practically and ideologically. AltaMira Press is proud to reprint this provocative work and introduce Charlotte Perkins Gilman to a new generation of students and feminist scholars.Part 1 Introduction to this Edition Part 2 I: Introductory Part 3 II: The Evolution of the Home Part 4 III: Domestic Mythology Part 5 IV: Present Conditions Part 6 V: The Home as a Workshop I: The Housewife Part 7 VI: The Home as a Workshop II: The Housemaid Part 8 VII: Home-Cooking Part 9 VIII: Domestic Art Part 10 IX: Domestic Ethics Part 11 X: Domestic Entertainment Part 12 XI: The Lady of the House Part 13 XII: The Child at Home Part 14 XIII: The Girl at Home Part 15 XIV: Home Influence on Men Part 16 XV: Home and Social Progress Part 17 XVI: Lines of Advance Part 18 XVII: ResultsCharlotte Perkins Gilman was a prolific American writer and feminist theorist who wrote over two hundred short stories, including 'The Yellow Wallpaper' (1892), a stark account of a young mother's mental breakdown. Michael S. Kimmel is Professor of Sociology at State University of New York, Stony Bló.