This book is significant because it dramatically envisions a fictional utopia presenting the philosophy described in Gilman's critically acclaimed feminist book Women and Economics by visually demonstrating her critique on the unnatural dependence of females on male breadwinners.[4] In Herland, the removal of men incites a new economic freedom of women. Gilman uses this utopia to further prove the theories defined in "Women and Economics" such as Lester Ward's "Gynaecocentric Theory," which declares that "the female sex is primary and the male secondary in the organic scheme."[5] However, these ideas are grounded in a mode of Separatist Feminism which some argue is detrimental to the feminist movement.
Herland helps establish a very early economic model favoring the female worker by adhering to social reproduction. In "The Waste of Private Housekeeping," Gilman states: "The principle waste in our 'domestic economy' lies in the fact that it is domestic."[6] When Terry expresses that in the U.S. the majority of women stay home instead of "working," the women wonder what he means by saying the women do not "work."—is caring for children not considered work?[7]
Though Gilman's ideas aim to help empower women in the workplace, the ideas of separatist feminism also extend into a perpetuation of white feminism—a branch of feminism that continually neglects the unique issues of women of color. Gilman's talk of eugenics, racial purity, and "servants" all hint at system of white supremacy where the different struggles of working-class women of color are not addressed.[8]
Additionally, in an effort to subvert the male-dominated system, Gilman inadvertently transcends this male subjugation into a different form—Lynne Evans states that the over emphasis on children invokes a subjugating system similar to the patriarchy.[9] In a society that bans abortion and centers all aspects of social, economic, and political life around the production of children, these "Herlanders" are still tied, without will, to their biological roles as mothers.
Deborah L Madsen argues that a Marxist feminist approach can enhance readers' understanding of Gilman's writing, observing that Gilman exposes "the ideological construction of the self under patriarchy" in Herland by "represent[ing] the world in a utopian fashion, as it should be rather than it is, with women in possession of equal rights and responsibilities and dignity that comes from realising their full human potential.”[10]
