Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935
Dates
- Existence: July 3, 1860 - August 17, 1935
Biographical Information
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was an American feminist, lecturer, writer, publisher, and leader in the United States' women's movement from the late 1890s to the mid-1920s.
Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Conneticut to Mary Fitch Westcott and Frederic Beecher Perkins. She married twice, first to Charles Walter Stetson with whom she had a daughter, Katharine. This was an unhappy marriage and they later divorced. Her second marriage was to George Houghton Gilman.
Gilman's best-known writings include "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892), which portrays a young wife's mental breakdown, and "Women and Economics" (1897), which argues that women need both economic independence and the right to vote to be equal and free. Gilman travelled both nationally and internationally to lecture and attend conferences about women's suffrage and equality.
Gilman died on August 17, 1935.