Women and Economics · Chapter
XIV explained
This chapter explores the transformation of home life and social intercourse as women gain economic independence.
What happens
This chapter explores the transformation of home life and social intercourse as women gain economic independence. It argues that the current sexuo-economic relation distorts social interactions, making them dependent on money and sexual attraction, and calls for a new social order where individuals—regardless of marital status—can enjoy comfortable homes and free, natural association. The author envisions communal spaces, professionalized domestic industries, and the end of the isolated, economically dependent home, leading to purer relationships and true civilization.
Themes in this chapter
Sexuo-Economic Relation
The chapter argues that the sexuo-economic relation distorts social intercourse, making it a matter of money and sexual advantage, and that economic independence will purify these interactions.
Home and Family Structure
The chapter critiques the traditional home as an economic entity and advocates for professionalized domestic industries, communal spaces, and individual housing options independent of marriage.
Individualization and Personhood
The chapter emphasizes the need for individuals—regardless of marital status—to have homes and social lives, and argues that persons, not just families, require recognition and provision.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator presents a sociological analysis of home life, social intercourse, and the economic independence of women, arguing for a transformation of domestic and social structures.
Key passages
“For women as individuals to meet men and other women as individuals, with no regard whatever to the family relation, is a growing demand of our time.”
Women increasingly need to interact with others purely as individuals, outside the context of family roles.
Highlights the demand for social intercourse beyond the family.
“The sexuo-economic relation promotes vice in more ways than one.”
The economic dependence of women on men encourages immoral behavior.
Directly links the sexuo-economic relation to social corruption.
“We shall not move from the isolated home to the sordid shop and back again... but we shall live in a world of men and women humanly related, as well as sexually related, working together, as they were meant to do, for the common good of all.”
Instead of a life split between private home and dirty workplace, we will have a society where men and women cooperate as whole human beings.
Envisions a transformed social and economic order.