Amelia+-+pro+-+SP12

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3rd 1860. Her political views were acquired early on in her childhood where she had two different perspectives, her father's side of the family were radicals and her mother's side of the family was conservative. She sided more with the beliefs of her father's side of the family, even though he left the family early on. She studied at Rhode Island School of Design and was originally an artist. In 1884 she married a fellow artist, Charles Walter Stetson. A year later she had a daughter with him. Charlotte felt that having a child put an end to her hopes of having a career and it caused a severe case of post-partum depression. She separated from her husband in 1888 and they were divorced in 1894. She felt that her career was more important than anything else and she later gave up her daughter to her ex-husband and his new wife. In 1900 she married another man who was supportive of her career. She committed suicide a year after he died, in 1935, because she did not want to live with cancer.
 * Background:**

Charlotte disagreed with the idea of the time that a woman's role was solely to be a wife and a mother. Women worked from sunrise to sunset and they didn't receive a salary. Women were also excluded from many jobs. Charlotte felt that men were too aggressive and dominant and that the women's domestic role was outdated and no longer necessary. Women were not allowed to reach their full potential because they were stuck in the social role of being a housewife, which ideally should be shared equally by husband and wife. She felt that this divide between men and women was unfair and that their roles in life should be more evened out. Charlotte believed that women should be allowed to achieve just as much as men, as shown in her quote, "The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship to society--more briefly, to find your real job, and do it."
 * Problem:**

Charlotte took to writing to show her feminist views. In her writing pieces she raised the standard of the life of women and expressed how women needed economic compensation for their work and how the social relationship between men and women needed to change. The purpose of her writing was to reach out to other women and encourage them to take action. In addition, the attitude she had in her own life and the way she chose to live it were very unique and not stereotypical of the time period, which she hoped would be an inspiration to others. Charlotte's most famous work was "The Yellow Wallpaper", which was a fiction piece, but depicted a woman with post-partum depression. Charlotte reached out to others by giving lectures on women's issues, ethics, labor, human rights, and social reform. While her efforts didn't change society very much during this time, it was the start of a change and her ideas were remembered.
 * Solution:**

"About (1860-1935)." //Charlotte Perkins Gilman//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

"Charlotte Perkins Gilman." //Webster University//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

"Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Socialist and the Suffragist"" //History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web//. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .