Gilman and Weber: Their Views on the Family

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Born in 1860, Gilman’s life, according to our textbook, was not one of convention or stability. Uncommon at the time, her parents divorced when she was nine. She herself was divorced after a ten-year marriage in 1884 that almost drove her insane. This marriage produced the semi- autobiographical work entitled, The Yellow Wall-Paper. Truly a feminist in the purest definition of the word, always active and enjoying whatever passions of life she chose. She even chose the way she left this life in 1935. On a personal note, in researching a paper on marriage and divorce a few semesters ago, I found that in the early Victorian era (1935-1901), a woman entering marriage had almost no rights. All her property automatically became her husband's. Even if she had her own land, her husband received the income from it. A husband had the right to lock up his wife. If he beat her, she had no legal redress. The law mostly removed itself from marital relations. Married women were put into the same category as lunatics, idiots, outlaws and children, and treated as such. Then, in another class a few semesters ago, I was fortunate enough to take a Women in Literature class and we studied this work (and watched the movie). After writing an essay on that story, and to now be studying her as a sociologist theorist is exciting. Knowing too that her work was, according to Ritzer, systematically written out of American sociology’s past, is thought provoking. Gilman argued that the separation between the genders were to blame for how the economic arrangement and the division of labor were laid out. Both Gilman and Weber view these factors in very similar ways. Weber views patriarchalism as a structure of oppression and argues that there ne... ... middle of paper ... ...e for different cultures. Until households are neither a patriarchal or matriarchal authority living there, there will never be complete equality. Maybe a new universarchal society (yes I made up that word !) I do not know enough about other households in order to make suggestions but I’m sure if I studied the subject more in-depth, I would be able to. Right now I live in a household where I am single, free and independent. I have not always lived in this type of household and can well understand how education, self-esteem and empowerment are still subjects that need to be taught. The households of close friends are also doing well. I think possibly the difference is that we are older, and hopefully wiser. The need for power and authority, I believe, has diminished with increased life experience. But I can only speak for myself and it is just my opinion.

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