GILMAN,CHARLOTTE,PERKINS - REASSESSING HER SIGNIFICANCE FOR FEMINISM AND SOCIAL ECONOMICS - REPLY

Sheth and Prasch point out the macroeconomic sociological aspects of t he work of Charlotte Perkins Oilman. They contend that Gilman's focus was on the creation of a new social structure. Gilman did, in fact, lo ok to a new and different social arrangement. However, her new society was built on a change in the microeconomic relationships which women had to face in their personal and professional lives. Only after the c hanges had occurred at the level of the individual could societal chan ges be put into place. To reference Gilman's thinking along these line s, it is necessary to observe her early writings in which she describe s the motivation behind her desire to construct a different social ord er. Sheth and Prasch have overlooked these early writings and have bee n led to conclude that Gilman's focus was strictly from a macroeconomi c perspective.