Women's Movement and Charlotte

The Women’s Rights Movement really began in the late 1840s, and is often referred to as the first wave. The primary goal of this movement was to gain women a voice in the government. This began over tea, and shortly after the first convention, they had collected a list of grievances, although the right of women to vote was a shocking idea to many of the women there.

Charlotte grew up in this first wave, and although many of her opinions differed from the movement, she was an important worker for it. Many of the views of the Women’s Rights Movement centered on the rights of women and their betterment. Charlotte, however, saw the betterment of women as a benefit to all society, because it would free men also. The movement was also did also push for women to be allowed basic rights such as education and property rights. The right to vote became the central issue, because this one act would help achieve several others.

Both were very close to Nationalism and the writer Bellamy’s ideas. Many women joined this movement because it reflected much of their own. And Charlotte began much of her career in Nationalist places, giving lectures and writing. She never referred to herself as a feminist, though at the time the word was unknown. She saw herself as trying to benefit all of humanity, by showing that the will to change is all it took.

Sources:

Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

Eisenberg, Bonnie and Mary Ruthsdotter. "Living the Legacy:
The Women's Rights Movement 1848 - 1998." History of the Movement. 4/20/11.
 http://www.legacy98.org/move-hist.html