Charlotte Perkins Gilman Gender

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Gender presents itself in various ways. It is a social construct that has a strong influence on almost everybody. Gender roles and gender expression are actively engaged forces in our lives to the point where they are inescapable. Charlotte Perkins Gilman specifically explores gender roles and their effects in her story “If I Were a Man.” In a sense, Gilman’s “If I Were a Man” inexplicitly delves into the impact of society’s assigned gender roles. Through her character Mollie Mathewson, Gilman is able to display how complicated this broad spectrum that gender falls under really is. Gilman does this through her analysis of masculinity and femininity, Mollie’s awareness of differences in purpose, and the consequences of gender non-conformity. …show more content…
Mollie is aware of the differences men and women perceive and experience the world. She does this when she puts herself in her husband’s shoes and says, “The world opened before her. Not the world she had been reared in – where Home had covered all the map, almost, and the rest had been ‘foreign,’ or ‘unexplored country,’ but the world as it was – man’s world, as made in, lived in, and seen, by men (60).” Gilman’s strategy to use Mollie’s observations emphasizes how men and women can lead completely separate lives, even while still accompanying each other as a married couple. In this case, to experience the world from a male perspective allows Mollie to address the issue of inequality among men and women. This can also be seen when Charlotte Perkins Gilman takes on the issue of money. Mollie becomes aware of the fact that she has control over money when she theoretically puts herself in her husband Gerald’s place. This becomes evident when she realizes she has pockets: “These pockets came as a revelation. Of course she had known they were there, had counted them, made fun of them, mended them, even envied them; but she never had dreamed of how it felt to have pockets (58).” So although pockets may seem to be such a silly thing to get excited over, they signify the power that men had over financing themselves as well as being the head/support of the …show more content…
Gilman introduces male characters that discuss women’s roles and what they deem “dangerous” about not fulfilling these roles. This is pointed out when Reverend Alfred Smythe states, “The real danger is that they will overstep the limits of their God-appointed sphere (61).” Referring to women, Gilman uses Reverend to pinpoint masculinity and how easily threatened it is or how it can be taken away. This statement also enables readers to understand the fact that gender roles are so heavily embedded in society that even religion or faith in God will not allow for performance that is otherwise. Gilman further demonstrates how it really is socially unacceptable or “taboo” for a woman to reject her assigned roles through another male perspective. Gerald argues, “Yes, we blame them for grafting on us, but are we willing to let our wives work? We are not. It hurts our pride, that’s all. We are always criticizing them for making mercenary marriages, but what do we call a girl who marries a chump with no money? Just a poor fool, that’s all. And they know it (62).” Here, this essentially highlights the fact that men during this time stressed being able to work and provide because it gave them and was their purpose. This too recognizes how men in society needed to keep women below them or “in their place.” Thus, Charlotte Perkins Gilman effectively breaks
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