Glendale Community College Gilman and Traditional Roles Essay
Charlotte Perkins Gilman felt that life was especially hard for married women who stayed home to perform housework and childcare while their husband went off to work in the cutthroat world of commerce. If you grew up in a traditional family with a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked outside the home for pay, what was life like for your mother? Did she feel that your father compensated her for all the work she performed in the home? Did she have access to the money he brought in, or did she have to ask him for cash? Did being a homemaker make her depressed or did she enjoy the work she performed? Did she wish that she worked outside the home for pay? Did she hope to further her education? Then think about your own future. Would you like to have a traditional family where one parent takes care of the children and the other travels to the city to work for pay? Would you like a family where both spouses work together to take care of the house and the children and both work outside the home for pay? Why do you hope to one day have this particular family type? Since this question is derived from the Gilman lectures, please be sure to integrate her theoretical framework into your answer.
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