Francisco

Jose Francisco
Dr. Elizabeth Steeby
English: 1158- 013
October 22, 2015
Challenging Cultures Influence and Stereotypes Against Women
In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter
hours, better pay and voting rights. Following this event, the Socialist Party of America
declared February 28th as National Womans day in 1909. Soon after, women in various
industrialized countries such as Germany, Denmark, Austria and Russia organized
themselves to protest against the unequal society they lived in. Later, after years of
struggle, Americas women were granted the right to vote in 1920. so why is it that they
only began protesting in the 19th century? What was their status in the preceding
centuries? What was the position of women in societies that existed before the
industrialized world? Can you imagine living in a place where you are considered inferior
to a person that you gave birth to? To gain some insight into how women felt during the
first wave feminist movement, let us analyze some feminist writings from this time.
Herland, a utopian novel written in 1915 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an
American feminist critic and author born in 1860, gives us an idea of how society in
America viewed women and how this view contributed for the status of women at time.
In addition to being a follower of pioneer womens rights advocates such as Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilman was a feminist
lecturer, magazine publisher, writer, economist, and social reformer (Sparknotes). Her
father abandoned their family, forcing his wife, daughter and son to live in poverty and

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moved frequently. Gilman was a voracious reader and was self-taught (Erskine). She
separated from her husband in 1888 and moved to California. She remarried in 1900.
Herland is a way Gilman sought to criticize the unjust society in women she lived
. The story is set in a hidden plateau inhabited only by women and isolated from other
cultures for thousands of years. That is until they were visited by three American men in
early twentieth century. Terry O. Nicholson, a mechanic and electrician, Jeff Margrave, a
botanist, and the narrator Vandyck Jennings who is a sociologist, are the explorers
(Gilman). Alima, Celis and Ellador are the first members of Herland that the explorers
meet. After reaching the town the explorers were reluctant to cooperate, and as a
consequence they were held captive before they were taught the language and history of
Herland.
The American learnt that Herland was a slaveholding civilization inhabited by
both men and women. Constant warfare with a close native tribe, and at end with the
slaves, reduced the men and older women population of the country to zero. The
remaining young females of the country defeated the slaves and for two thousands years
the Herland had no men citizens. The women kept reproducing themselves through selfinduced asexual reproduction. Jeff, Terry and Vans cultures influence and stereotypes
against women, such as that women are inferior to men, and consequently that they
deserve no rights and opportunity within a society are challenged after their interaction
with a well advanced society inhabited only by women.
The idea held in patriarchal societies that women are incapable of contributing to
the development of the society is refutable when women are given the same
opportunities. For example, The road was some sort of hard manufactured stuff, sloped

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slightly to shed rain, with every curve and grade and gutter as perfect as if it were
Europe's best (Gilman, 47). Surprised by the beauty and advancement of the country, the
explorers are convinced that such civilization must be the result of a male dominated
society (Mock). Gilman does very well here portraying the concept held at that time that
women were incapable of performing the same work as is done by men. The explorers
couldnt believe that the women built the roads so perfectly.
We have no laws over a hundred years old, and most of them are under twenty
(Gilman, 156). Michele L. Mock, American literature educator, writer, Member of
Language Association, and National Women's Studies Association states that Gilman
believes that widely held societal conventions enforced the patrifocal status, and that
these conventions were all the more insidious because they encouraged women to accept
their subordination. Dr. Mock clearly emphasizes that Herland is a playful
dramatization of conventions, laws and beliefs that have been kept for thousands of year
that contributed to the situation the women were in. Gilman implicitly tell the readers that
laws and convections can lose their usefulness over time and for that reason these should
be subjected to scrutiny.
In herland Gilman also shows that conventions and laws influences social
behavior which are different from biological traits. The explorers were puzzled to learn
that women were not displaying the same kind of behavior similar to their world. She
conveys the idea that womens commonly accepted behavior of passivity, helplessness
deemed as biological trait is not true but a conditioned response to mens expectations
(Mock).

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We were now well used to seeing women not as females but as people; people of all
sorts, doing every kind of work (Gilman, 337). Even though Terrys behavior toward
Alima at end of the story shows that he refused to change his beliefs. Both Jeff who gets
married and remains in Herland and, Van who also gets married and decided to leave
Herland learned and enjoyed seeing women at its full potential.
Umoja which literaly means no mans Land, in Kenya, Africa is the first known only
womens society. Started in 1990 by Rebecca Lolosoli and others fourteen others
domestic violence survivors. The village was created to provide help to women and
young girls to escape domestic violence, rape, child marriage and female genital
mutilation. The village is self-sustained by a camp safari for tourists and visitors.
Gilmans utopian vision is clearly evident in our modern world. Even though the
struggle for womans equality continues through equal wage we see more women
occupying places of leadership in our modern society. Moreover, only experience prove if
our beliefs are true or not.

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