Preview

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ida B. Wells Barnett and the Fight for Fairness and Equality for Undocumented Immigrants

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2243 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ida B. Wells Barnett and the Fight for Fairness and Equality for Undocumented Immigrants
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ida B. Wells Barnett and the Fight for Fairness and Equality for Undocumented Immigrants Kristin Fine

The women founders of sociological theory made it possible for women and members of other marginalized communities to gain access to the rights and privileges their white male counterparts enjoyed for centuries. In particular, the incredible lives of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Ida B. Wells-Barnett allowed new avenues of academia and social change that had not previously been conceivable. Although they used different approaches and their theories focused on different aspects of the society in which they lived, a common thread ties them together in the history of feminist thinkers: their passion for social and economic change for women. Their contributions laid the groundwork for the modern day struggles for civil rights, in particular the fight for fair treatment and equality of undocumented immigrants. Gilman and Wells-Barnett did not gain admiration for maintaining the status-quo, which is exactly why it is important to apply their methods of research and analysis to the fight for the equality of undocumented immigrants. This paper focuses on the revolutionary theories Gilman and Wells-Barnett are most known for, and discusses the potential implications the application of these theories might have when applied to undocumented immigrants. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 and died by suicide in August of 1935. Despite her unfortunate death, the contributions Gilman made to the feminist movement are still considered to be unparalleled, so much so that has been judged “the

1

most original and challenging mind which the woman movement produced” 1. In her most famous work, Women and Economics, Gilman separated herself from other feminists of the time by boldly stating that the integral cause for sex-distinction and the inequality facing women is the dependence on the husband in the family unit for all money making

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    In the early 20th century, many social and political movements demanded the attention and action of the United States. During this time, Jane Addams became an accomplished philosopher, author, peace advocate, feminist and sociologist during the Progressive era, who was unique from other reformers during this time because she didn’t prioritize the social, economic, and political inequalities that plagued America’s minorities; Every issue was important and she proposed her beliefs on coexistence through a pacifist attitude that helped pave the way to the accomplishment of many successful labor and social reform movements because the actions she took to promote change ignited an awareness among middle class America that wasn’t there before,…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Since the movement for women’s suffrage first began there were many intersections and obstacles the women of the organization must go through to gain the achievement of obtaining citizenship and their right to vote. In both Bell Hooks and Linda Harris Dobkins articles they respectively introduce race and power within the women’s movement and how it affected the movement. First off, in the passage Revolutionary Parenting Hooks acknowledges how difficult it is to define motherhood by including how race is a big factor and the perceived notion of mothers needing to be the nurtures and primary care takers of the children. When Hooks states the difference in opinions of motherhood between race, I felt that it was extremely important to note that women of color were deeply disenfranchised where we see how the idea of being a mother was oppressing, thus alienating a big group of colored women who saw motherhood not only liberating but empowering.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, women’s rights have remained a strong and critical topic in many areas of life. Many politicians, opinion writers, and even authors write or discuss about women’s rights in order to gain sympathy for women or to stir action towards equality. However, in the later part of the 19th century, women were treated as no more than mere objects by men, without any empathy or love. One example that explores the rights of women during the time period is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. In her short story, Gilman depicts the hurtful relationship between a powerless wife and a husband who has no regards for his spouse. Although the wife was submissive and obedient towards her husband in the…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reform Movements Penitentiaries 1. John Howard was the leader of the penitentiary movement. 2. John Howard started the “Penitentiary Movement” because he had concerns for the jailers since they were beginning to see more and more deaths from the prisoners. Howard’s actions were caused due to the diseases that were intensified by the conditions of the prisoners’ incarcerations.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Continuing on women's rights, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a strong feminist and author of The Yellow Wallpaper wrote on women’s focus in their roles in the consumer world as minor pieces. She points out a key topic about how women are told to take and take and take but to not give but one thing, their womanhood, meaning that a woman is to consume the position to feed the family and basically care for the family but at the same time be under their husbands control. So to basically take every gift from a man but give up their womanhood. Charlotte also points out that men overestimate a woman's so-called “duties of her position.” These “duties of her position” had been to produce an elaborate devotion to individuals and their personal needs, meaning…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mrs. Beazley's Deeds

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The story “Mrs. Beazley’s Deeds” is about how women were valued in the nineteenth century society. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, moved to California at the age of thirty after divorcing her husband. “She lectured on women’s status and socialism, taught school, operated a boarding house, edited newspapers, and wrote articles and novels. Her articles on feminist issues are Women and Economics (1898), Concerning Children (1900), Human Work (1904), The Man-Made World (1911). Gilman’s novels are The Crux (1911), Herland (1915), Moving the Mountain (1911), and With Her in Our Land (1916)” (386). The latter three are feminist works. The author has an autobiography that was published in 1935, The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She was terminally ill with cancer and chose to end her own life in 1935.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    National Women 's History Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Women 's History Museum web site: http://www.nwhm.org/ProgressiveEra/statuswomenprogressive.html…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lives for women in 1892 were heavily controlled by men. Women were treated as if they were inferior to men. Charlotte Perkins Gilman brings light to this problem in a interesting way. Gilman herself, was in fact driven to near madness and later claimed to have written “The Yellow Wallpaper” to protest this treatment of women like herself, and specifically to address her physician. Although they never replied to Gilman personally, they are said to have confessed to a friend that they had changed their treatment of hysterics after reading the story. While real life aspects are apparent it’s the symbolism and subliminal feminist in her story to show how a woman’s role in society is limited with no control or creative outlet.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women's Rights Dbq

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the peace and freedom movement of the 1960s, protesting the Vietnam War, there was gender inequality present even among the protesters. Women typically had less important roles in the movement. In an inverse way, this inspired them. They were fighting for freedom, a better society, and equality between people. Yet they themselves were not equal. If they were to fight for equality for other people then they also needed to fight for equality for themselves and their fellow women. The peace and freedom movement was caused to stop the war in Vietnam. Because men and women were working together to end the war, women became increasingly aware of the fact that they were valued less than men even if they did the same work. (Doc, 3). Latina women specifically had a huge need to fight for inequality. They were inspired by multiple movements. They were inspired by the fight against the oppression of the working class, the fight against the oppression Chicana women suffered at the hands of men, as well as the general feminist movement. In a way, all of the movements coexisting during this time period all inspired and were inspired by each other (Doc, 5). The feminist movement especially affected by other…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth. The ABC-CLIO Companion to Women 's Progress in America. 1st ed. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1994. 1-339. Print.…

    • 3186 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The American movement for women’s liberation and rights was undoubtedly the most progressive in the decades that followed the Second World War. The second wave of feminism that ensued in the 1960s and 70s redirected the goals and ambitions in the fight for gender equality in many aspects. This new wave of liberal reform allowed women to break free from the domestic sphere from the conservative restraints of the 1950s, which have traditionally limited a women’s access to the same political, economic, and educational rights as men. While the fight for women’s equality started to make real headway post World War II, the fight for women’s rights has existed long before then. This can be seen in the Antebellum reforms or the first wave of feminism from the early 19th century to the early 20th century.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the Women’s Rights Movement is widely known to have started in New York, there is no doubt that the women of Texas fought great battles in order to gain civil liberties. Even though women were seen as partners in land labor and expected to contribute during the settlement of Texas, women were seen as unfit and too frail to partake in politics. Orestes Brownson, a religious author and activist of those times stated “We do not believe women . . . are fit to have their own head. Without masculine direction or control, she is out of her element and a social anomaly -- sometimes a hideous monster.” The awakening of the lack of Women’s Rights was not only due to the obvious absence of their presence in any historically important political…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Place For Women DBQ

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As our new nation progressed, so too did the roles of women. They went from working at home fulfilling domestic needs to factories where they would slave for over fourteen hours a day. Even though the work was hard, women were now making their own money and playing a more dominant role in society. Therefore, they often fought for suffrage, abolishment of slavery, and temperance. The seed for women’s rights had been planted, but it would take nearly 100 years for it to start prospering. However, women were changing; they were changing their opportunities in their family, their work life, and society along with them.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All that they have - food and clothing and all the luxuries – depend upon how much their husband has, and how much he is willing to give her. That is a sad state of affairs, and it still rings true today for many women. Women who are satisfied to stay home and raise the children and not have a career face the realization that they could never survive financially on their own. The divorce rate was low back in the years following the Civil War. Women had not gained their “emancipation”. Gilman’s book had a strong impact on first generation feminists.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Human Work” by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an analysis noting the importance of work in the lives of both men and women. She reflects on how growing social consciousness is aiding in general human unhappiness (p.8) that is linked to economic dependence. This social phenomena is why she urges us to become familiar and have comparative minds (p. 5) in order to better understand new facts that can help shape our perception. In doing so we can insure that society is more profitable and pleasant lives (p.7).…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays