Author of the well-known short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and other important fiction, Charlotte Perkins [Stetson] Gilman (1860–1935) was an ardent advocate of women's rights. In this classic feminist treatise, Gilman argues that women's dependence on men for their livelihood results in a state of arrested intellectual and emotional development deleterious to both genders. Moreover, she explains, such reliance causes shortcomings in the human species as a whole.
A landmark in feminist theory, Women and Economics was translated into seven languages and hailed as the "Bible" of the women's movement. Although its author's influence declined in the post-World War I period, modern feminists have returned to her still-incisive observations on the role and status of women, establishing Gilman as an important early figure in the struggle for women's economic and social rights. Now Gilman's masterpiece of feminist theory is again available in this modestly priced edition, ready to stimulate and inspire a new generation of women and men engaged in the ongoing fight for gender equality. New Introduction by Sheryl L. Meyering.