ionship were extremely limited. She stated that "wealth, power, social distinction, fame," even "home and happiness, reputation, ease," "pleasure, her bread and butter,--all must come to her through a small gold ring." (Gilman, 1898). Having to depend on men, Gilman said, put every woman in the position of being "re-humanized" over and over again in households owned by father, husband, brother--all of which resulted in "restriction, repression, denial," and "the smothering 'no' which crushed down all her h discover, to learn, to express, to advance...." (Gilman, 1898). Using an argument familiar in the 1970s, Gilman expressed how this must seem to the future of young women, who knew they could break out of this mold without suffering economically. Gilman wrote that this environment in which young woman grew was equivalent to slavery. Not only was every young girl meticulously trained for a domestic position through her early years, but she was expected to instruct her daughters to accept oppression. Gilman further stated that any woman who did not have a man to back her and wanted economic freedom was destined to become a whore and make her money "in private and alone, [in] the first-hand industries of savage times." (Gilman, 1898). Because of this, the repression of women was, therefore, a reflection on society itself. However, Gilman said, despite all of these realities known to young girls, despite the fact that women were repressed, a few women had broken out of that mold. These few had proven that women, who hold the same ideals men hold for themselves, could and had risen above their domestic status and had become important to the economy of America. Thomas wrote that this made women invincible, and used this as a means to empower the women who heard her. Men were intimidated by writings like Gilman's, so even as men and women discussed the possibility of equality for women, they also discussed ways in which women should be repres...
