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A house does not need a wife any more than it needs a husband.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that a home does not require a specific gender role to define its completeness or function.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's quote emphasizes the idea that both a house and a household can operate independently of traditional gender roles. It implies that a home is not solely defined by the presence of a wife or husband, but rather by the relationships and dynamics that exist within it, advocating for a more egalitarian approach to domestic life.

Themes

HomeGender RolesRelationshipsEqualityHousehold

In practice

Example use cases

In a talk about gender equality in household roles, this quote can illustrate that both partners are equally significant.

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The home is the centre and circumference, the start and the finish, of most of our lives.
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To swallow and follow, whether old doctrine or new propaganda, is a weakness still dominating the human mind.
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We all need one another; much and often. Just as every human creature needs a place to be alone in, a sacred, private "home" of his own, so all human creatures need a place to be together in, from the two who can show each other their souls uninterruptedly, to the largest throng that can throb and stir in unison.
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When the mother of the race is free, we shall have a better world, by the easy right of birth and by the calm, slow, friendly forces of evolution.
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