Utopian Society of Herland vs.

Every other human

In Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Herland, written in 1915, Gilman vividly describes the large utopian society that contains only females. The point of view is unexpectedly from a male, Vandyck Jennings. It becomes very clear throughout the book how much of the outside world had so many structural issues, but the most prominent one is the demeaning attitudes towards women. The women of Herland uncover these discriminatory views when they expose their culture, which shows equality to all and discrimination to no one. As the men share their knowledge of the world and their land, the women unveil the ways in which a society can fully function without the male species, despite the beliefs of the 3 male travelers. The matter at hand concerning womens rights during the time at which this book was written still shows many of the same problems in todays society. After many years of fighting for the right to not only be called equal, but treated equal, there is not enough equality for people of every race, every gender, and every religious background for all the hard work that has been put forth. Charlotte Gilman was far ahead of her time creating a novel with such an extensive culture that existed solely of females in a time when women were oppressed in the workplace and or at home. In the time when this was written, African American males had more rights than all of the women in the country. Four years after Herland was written the 19th amendment was passed, and the right to vote was finally given to women. It wasnt until the late 19th century that women were given more recognition for their intelligence by having more opportunities for jobs, but their wages resembled far less than the same job carried out by a man. On top of unfair wages, all of the unpaid domestic work carried out by women were and still are hardly given an inkling of appreciation. In the society of Herland there are no needs for barriers in the workplace, home, or out and about in the land because there is no sense of inequality on any level. You see, they had no wars. They had had no kings, and no priests, and no aristocracies. They were sisters, and as they grew, they grew together- not by competition, but by united action. The obstacles women endure are not limited to: maternity rights in employment, social security benefits, equal job training opportunities

and the right to control their own reproductive system. Maureen Flanagan points out a large factor of womens handicapped privileges which started to turn around when the 1960s produced a new-wave feminist movement called Womens Liberation, which argued that women suffered both personal and political oppression in a male-dominated society. The different interpretations of everyday lifestyles between the women of Herland and the three gentlemen from America demonstrate varied ideals, especially when referring to motherhood. In the United States during the time Herland was written, being a mother implied assuming multiple responsibilities that were not compensated or rewarded in any way because being a wife meant revolving ones life around her husband and children. In fact, it was looked down upon and almost inconceivable to think that women should be any other place than home, taking care of the children, playing house, because doing anything out of that role would imply that they were deserting their motherly duties. In Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Duties of Women, he believed that it is in a womans best nature to be subordinate and their duty was to please and delight men. Since that time there has been a large shift in the stereotypical housewife duty as men are now assuming that position with open arms while their wife is the big moneymaker, supporting the family financially. However, in the land of females, every woman that gives birth is not meant to be the only caretaker for their child. Every mother is a caretaker for every child. The specialties of each woman who becomes pregnant has her traits passed down to their baby, which continues the production of a trait that benefits the community. Every individual has the capacity to be a positive influence for their utopia in more ways than one. Whether it is to improve structures, the endless gardens, mend or create clothing, add information to the history books or teach others, each individual has the opportunity expand their horizons for the well being of the people- the collective productivity is always in the best interest of every person. Every mother is everyones caretaker; every youngster is the child of every woman. In Herland, since every individual is meant to carry out a specific job to benefit the community in some way, every child will have many teachers throughout their lifetime for all the various life lessons to be learned. They had faced the problems of

education and so solved them that their children grew up as naturally as young trees; learning through every sense; taught continuously but unconsciously- never knowing they were being educated. They did not dream that in this association of hilarious experiment and achievement they were laying the foundation for that close beautiful group feeling into which they grew so firmly with the years. This was education for citizenship.The doors of opportunity and possibility are flung wide open, giving each person a higher probability of being led into the correct path of their predestined calling. Ironically, to the women in Herland, the highest regarded specialty is becoming a teacher, which in todays nation is seen as easily discarded and brushed off when the money gets tough in places like public schools. How can it be that education is not the top priority of everyones lists? There can be no progress in a civilization if the future generations are not soaking up the knowledge that can and will benefit the rest of their lives. What has the world come to when three quarters of the worlds illiterate people are women. This daunting reality goes back to the presumed subordinate role of women since the beginning of time- when women are bombarded with the responsibility to accept traditional family situations, the woman is predominantly the cook, cleaner and nurse. With so much of their time and energy consumed in this way, women have far less energy for self-growth, education and career opportunities... fighting for womens liberation is an essential part of... dismantl[ing] and smash[ing] the corrupt system... that has allowed these atrocities against women to occur in the first place. The fight for education in the United States has a completely different meaning for females in second and third world countries. Women in most Middle Eastern countries are tortured for their attempts to educate themselves. A 17-year-old Aghani girl named Shamsia had acid thrown on a group of girls she was with because they dared to go to school. After the incident she told reporters I will go to school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies. This kind of dedication should alarm male members and at least present some sort of mental shift towards women, but it doesnt in the slightest. Of all the cases recorded of this kind of abuse in the Islambad area only 2% were convicted! These statistics reveal the upsetting, perplexing truth of inequality that exists on all 4 corners of our world. Our collective thought is not geared towards advancing and enhancing the

society for all members as the women in Herland are towards all of their people. They had worked out a chemistry, a botany, a physics, with all the blends where a science touches an art, or merges into an industry, to such fullness of knowledge as made us feel like schoolchildren. What one knew, all knew, to a very considerable extent.. there was the same high level of intelligence.. in proportion to their opportunities they were far better educated than our people. In the United States, there is a theme of pseudoactivism from the short attention span of citizens that immerse themselves in media, which only contributes to the lack of dedication necessary for advancement. Our only hope for a better place of inhabitation is a monumental shift in the way people perceive one another; there has already been progress, but everyone needs to step up to the plate and accept that times are changing for the better of mankind. Sexist ideas also mean women are perceived as objects to be conquered and possessed by men. This systematic oppression is so deeply ingrained within society that some rarely give it a second thought. The domination of men in society is plain outdated in the 21st century after so much change has gone towards giving women more of an equal position next to men. In Herland there was no accepted standard of what was manly and what was womanly. But to one of the traveling male members, the lack of differentiation between individuals that hes used to, symbolizes the male need for a hierarchy that continues to put women beneath them: Theyve no modesty, snapped Terry. No patience, no submissiveness, none of that natural yielding which is womans greatest charm. In the daily grind of a 9 to 5 job there are still excessive cases of discrimination when it comes to promotions in pay and or position and complete exclusion from certain job fields that are considered to be masculine. The largest hindering factor I have found throughout my research that keeps women from top management positions is merely the fact that they are seen as different- which would increase the companys uncertainty of future progress. On the contrary, there is ample conversation pertaining to the fact that women are thought to be an untapped source that could potentially be very beneficial to the economy due to higher grades in school which typically leads to a better future with a better career path. The competition is extremely high for education and jobs presently; everyone needs to be given the freedom to mold their future with their own hands with as many opportunities for

success as possible. People of lower class, especially women, are denied proper treatment in their developing stages of adulthood which only lowers their level of standards for themselves for their future. Some say ignorance is bliss but really, ignorance from how much you can achieve is an abomination of the initial surroundings of ones life. No one should be denied the right to an education, to be treated equally among people from all walks of life and to have a voice in ones community, city, state and country. Our basis for standards in the United States culture must take a leap of faith into the outstretched arms of women all over so that the bumpy roads of our predecessors standards can be paved over with positive change towards equality for all. In conclusion, many of the same issues concerning womens rights are still present from the time in which Herland was written, although there has been undeniable progress. The all over basis of what makes Herland such an incredibly functioning society will continue to be a symbol of a completely symbiotic relationship between people and their land. [The men] had expected pettiness, and found a social consciousness beside which [their] nations looked like quarreling childrenfeebleminded ones at that. [They] had expected jealousy, and found a broad sisterly affection, a fair-minded intelligence, to which [they] could produce no parallel. [They] had expected hysteria, and found a standard of health and vigor, a calmness of temper, to which the habit of profanity, for instance, was impossible to explain. The form of a novel for presenting the utopian society of Herland has proven to be very forceful and effective for the comparisons between their accomplished culture and ours, which continues to have its fair share of troubles; Herlands print will always have the same representation of a utopian society as the times continue to change around us every day. Some aspects of our different cultures may match at one point, but the only thing certain in life is change. If the collective we, all citizens of every place, were to change the standardized views imprinted upon us at birth related to crime, poverty, war, disease, discrimination, etc. Our society would relate to that of Herlands so vividly, there would be no competition, jealousy, pettiness, or hysteria, there would only be a sense of bliss echoing throughout the stretches of land we call home.