Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your English lesson, where today we are going to be reading and exploring the poem "To The Indifferent Women" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

But before we begin, please make sure you've got something to write with and something to write on.

If you don't have that, you can pause the video here and go and grab it.

I'd also like you to make sure that you've put all distractions out of the way, so you can fully focus on today's lesson content.

Right.

Let's get started.

We're going to begin by considering our agenda for today's lesson.

We're going to start with some key vocabulary.

Today, that is the word indifferent.

Then we're going to move on and consider who Charlotte Perkins Gilman was, and what was her role in the U.

S.

suffrage movement.

Then we're going to be reading her poem, "To The Indifferent Women" and considering her use of persuasive techniques, and finally Gilman's message in her poem.

So there's lots to do.

We best get started.

Key vocabulary, indifferent.

So if you're indifferent, it means to have no particular interest in or sympathy for something.

Being unconcerned.

So let's read that again, and this time I'd like you to read with me.

Indifferent means to have no particular interest in or sympathy for something.

Being unconcerned.

Let's look at how we can use that in a series of sentences.

She appeared to be completely indifferent to the situation.

My dog seems indifferent to his new food.

I pretended to be indifferent to it.

So here you can see in each of these sentences, someone or something in the case of the dog, is unconcerned about something in particular.

For instance, sentence number two, the dog seems indifferent to his new food.

He's not particularly interested in it.

He's a bit unconcerned.

He's not really bothered about it.

Let's test your knowledge of the term indifferent.

Please pause the video here and fill in the gaps.

I'd like you to resume the video once you are finished.

Great.

Let's check your answer.

Indifferent is to have no particular interest in or sympathy for something.

Being unconcerned.

I'd like you to answer for me, which of the following sentences uses the word indifferent correctly.

Her manner was cold and indifferent.

I've no indifferent in what you are saying.

Most pupils were indifferent to the plants.

Pause the video here and write down the sentence or sentences that use the term indifferent correctly.

Please resume the video once you are finished.

Let's check our answers.

Those answers in bold use the term indifferent correctly.

Her manner was cold and indifferent and most pupils were indifferent to the plants.

However, number two does not use indifferent correctly.

I've no indifferent in what you are saying.

Ah.

This person has understood that indifferent means to not be particularly concerned about something, but they've used the word as a substitute.

They might want to say, I've no interest in what you are saying.

I'm indifferent.

That would make sense.

Well done if you've got those correct.

If you didn't, you're more than welcome to pause the video here and edit your work.

So what I would like you to do here, is you're going to copy the grid below.

On the left hand side, your column is going to read, I am indifferent to.

On the right hand side, your column is going to read, I care about.

And you're going to put the following topics into the relevant column.

Football, films, television, music, shopping, cooking, climate change, homelessness and equality.

Now, this is a personal task.

Your answers are going to differ from mine and they would differ from your friend's.

So please pause the video here and complete this grid fill task.

Make sure you resume the video once you are finished.

Great.

Now you've had some time to consider what you are indifferent to, what you've no interest in, what you're unconcerned about, versus what you do care about.

Now, hopefully you noticed as you were filling in your grid that there's a real difference in the ideas that I've put forward to you here.

We've got things like football, music, shopping, television.

Now, my answer may differ very much from yours.

Football for me would definitely be going in the left hand column.

I'm indifferent to it, but for many of you, it might be in the right hand column, something that you really care about, and that's absolutely fine.

But for the final three, climate change, homelessness and equality, these are big issues.

They're issues that we should really care about.

And so for many people, they will be in the right hand column.

And so while we're able to be indifferent about some things, because actually, it's just a personal matter.

Indifferent about music, indifferent about shopping.

There are some things that we should not be indifferent about.

There are some things we should all care about.

Let's move forward.

We're now going to consider, "To The Indifferent Women" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

However, we're going to start with an introduction to Perkins herself and the women's suffrage movement.

This is our poet, Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

She was an American feminist writer.

And she didn't have the easiest of upbringings.

It's important to note that her father abandoned their family when she was a very young girl.

This left her and her family in a financially difficult position.

They were struggling.

They didn't have the money they needed.

Now, as a consequence of her father abandoning the family, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was raised by her extended family.

And one of the people who raised her was her great aunt, Isabel Beecher Hooker.

And this is important because Isabel Beecher Hooker was a renowned feminist.

Now I'm going to remind you here that feminist, very simply by definition, means somebody who believes in equal rights for women.

Someone who believes that men and women should be treated equally.

Now, this is important.

You might be thinking, "Well, why does anyone need to be a feminist? "Men and women are treated equally." Well, this is definitely something that we need to keep working towards, but this was definitely not the case when Perkins Gilman was writing.

And so in her poetry, she explores her own revolution for change.

She was a true advocate, a true supporter of women's rights.

She wanted to empower women, because at the time women did not have a voice.

And so this is where the American suffrage movement comes in.

Now you'll notice here, it says the National American Women's Suffrage Association.

I just want to note that the same was happening in Britain.

However, we're focusing on America because Perkins Gilman herself was an American writer.

Now, the American suffrage movement, granted women the right to vote, because at the time, women, as a gender were considered to be inferior, below men.

They did not have a voice in society.

And the reason they didn't have a voice in society is because women were expected to focus on the housework and motherhood.

And they were not meant to focus on things like politics.

Now you'll be very pleased to hear that this changed for America in 1920, when women were given the vote.

Now, before we read the poem, I want you to be aware that Charlotte Perkins Gilman, her movement, her poetry was all about empowering all women as to their individual role in the wider society.

Because at the time, because women were considered the inferior gender, many women did not realise they actually had a really important role to play in society.

They believed, "Yes.

My role is to be a housewife.

"It's to be a mother and my voice doesn't count." And Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted to educate women and let them know, "No, your voice does count.

"You are important.

"We need your voice in our society." Because when we read the poem, you might think, "Hmm, well, Charlotte Perkins Gilman "was meant to be an American feminist.

"She was meant to be a supporter of women." And this poem, as you will see, reads a little bit critical, a little bit negative towards the women she's talking to.

Now, it does that because she's trying to empower them.

She wants them to realise their worth in the wider society.

Right.

Let's read the poem.

I will probably stop at the end of most stanzas, and just give you a little bit of a discussion, a little bit of a paraphrase for each of these stanzas.

Let's get started.

You, who are happy in a thousand homes or overworked therein to a dumb peace, whose souls are wholly centred in the life of that small group you personally love.

Who told you that you need not know or care about the sin and the sorrow of the world? Now here, the you, she is talking directly to the indifferent women, who form the poem's title.

She's talking to the women who are not interested, who are unconcerned, because they, at this current time, believe their role exists solely to be a housewife and to be a mother.

They don't realise that they have a wider role in society.

And so she's trying to educate them, but she does it with a little bit of a harsh tone.

And so she's saying to them, you who are happy in your thousand homes, you're overworked to a dumb peace.

You're overworked, you're quietened by your role as a doting housewife and mother.

And then she's slightly critical.

She's saying your souls as an indifferent woman, is only centred on the life of your small group that you personally love.

And there she's suggesting, you only love and centre your efforts around your small family, and she questions at the end.

Do you not know that actually, there's a lot of sin and sorrow in the world? Do you not care about that? Because all you are concerned about at this moment is your small family unit.

So it does start a little bit critical, but she's prompting her listener, her reader to think.

Think about the message.

Let's continue.

Do you believe the sorrow of the world does not concern you in your little homes? That you are licenced to avoid the care and toil for human progress, human peace, and the enlargement of our power of love until it covers every field of life? So once again, she's ramping up that sort of critical tone.

Do you not believe that the sorrows, the bad things that happen in the world, the sadness of the world around you does not concern you, just because you're happy in your little home? She's starting to hope that the indifferent women are going to open their eyes and realise that there is a world outside their own houses.

She's saying, do you think that you're allowed to avoid the care and toil for human progress, human peace? Do you think, she asks, you don't have a role in bettering society and empowering women and the enlargement of our power of love until it covers every field of life? She associates, and we'll see this in the later stanzas, women with having a love and a nurturing and a maternal sensibility.

And she wants this in the outside world beyond their little homes.

Let's continue.

The one first duty of all human life is to promote the progress of the world in righteousness, in wisdom, truth, and love.

And you ignore it.

Hidden in your homes, content to keep them in uncertain peace, content to leave all else without your care.

So here she's saying to these indifferent women, the duty of everyone is to promote progress, is to create a better world of truth and of love.

And you, the indifferent women, you're not doing it because you're hiding in your homes with your families in your secure little units and you're content to leave all else without your care.

You are happy to simply live in your small unit and the world is suffering because it doesn't have you in it.

It doesn't have your love and your nurture and your care.

So she's continuing to be critical about the indifferent women by suggesting that they are not empowering themselves, but she's being, she's doing it really cleverly because she's highlighting all the positive things that she associates with being a woman.

And she's saying, it's your fault.

You've got all of these amazing qualities as a woman, but you're not allowing it outside your front door because you're keeping inside your own four walls.

Yet you are mothers! And a mother's care is the first step towards friendly human life.

Life where all nations in untroubled peace, unite to raise the standard of the world and make the happiness we seek in homes, spread everywhere in strong and fruitful love.

So here she really zooms in on the fact, you women, you homemakers, you housewives, you are mothers and mothers are integral.

They are so important in creating a better world, of friendly human life.

And so she's trying to get these indifferent women to note the world outside their front door and to step outside their front door and to engage with the wider world, where a mother can spread everywhere in strong and fruitful love.

They can spread the happiness that exists inside their home to the outside world.

You are content to keep that mighty love in its first steps forever.

The crude care of animals for mate and young and homes, instead of pouring it abroad in life.

Its mighty current feeding the world, till every human child can grow in peace.

So once again, she's saying, you're happy to keep the love that you have in its first steps.

And she's suggesting that the love of mother naturally has for people, and in this case, her children, is just confined in the four walls of which they live in.

And she uses a comparison to animals.

Now, more often than not, an animal, a mother in the animal kingdom will nurture her young, but only her young.

They're going to go out, you know, babysitting and looking after other animals that aren't their own.

And she's comparing that role in the animal kingdom to the current situation with these indifferent women.

That they're only protecting and looking after and giving love to their own children.

And actually, it needs to be pouring abroad in life and feeding the world, till every human child can grow in peace.

She's saying, we need your love.

We need your care in the wider world.

So every human child can grow in peace.

Because she's probably aware as well, that not every child has the benefit of a loving, caring, mothering, nurturing mother.

You cannot keep your small domestic peace, your little pool of undeveloped love, while the neglected, starved, unmothered world struggles and fights for lack of mother's care, and its tempestuous bitter broken life beats in upon you in your selfish homes.

So, she's suggesting here, that once again, this mother, these indifferent women are keeping their love and their comforts confined to the home.

Domestic means home.

And she's saying, you can't keep your small domestic peace in your little pool of undeveloped love.

Undeveloped, because that love needs to be developed and nurtured in the outside world.

And then she really hits home with some emotive language here.

She says, in contrast to your home, outside of your home, there are neglected, starved, unmothered world, that struggles and fights.

And it's like that, she's suggesting, because you are not empowering yourself to step outside your front door.

The world needs your love, she's telling these in different women.

And that phrase at the end, beats in upon you in your selfish homes.

She's suggesting that these women, these indifferent women are selfish, that they're concerned at the moment, only with themselves in their own families.

So she's really ramping up the criticism there, but that's probably through her frustration.

She realises as with any movement, any movement for change, any revolution, we need people behind it in abundance.

And if that isn't the case, if there continues to be these large groups of indifferent women that aren't fighting for the feminist cause, then nothing is going to change and they do become selfish.

So like I said, she's criticising them on the one hand, but she's trying to empower them on the other.

And finally she states, we all may have our homes in joy and peace when women's life in its rich power of love, is joined with man's to care for all the world.

So she's saying that everyone will benefit from you having a position in society.

Walking out of your front door and allowing the world, the comfort of your love and nurture and maternal instincts.

And more importantly, in the final line, when the power of love, the woman's power of love is joined with man's to care for the world.

Because she suggesting at this present time, men are superior.

Men are considered the more important, the more empowered, the more powerful gender.

And she saying, we need to balance that.

And we need women to join with men.

Women are as worthy as men in our society.

And while there were a number of women fighting for the rights of their fellow women during this time, there were a number that were, there were a number that were indifferent.

More than anything, because they didn't know anything else.

They thought that that was their role, to be a housewife, to be a mother.

And while that is totally fine and totally acceptable, Charlotte Perkins Gilman just wanted to open their eyes and open their eyes to the fact that they are worthy to a wider position in this world.

So I'm going to read you a series of statements in relation to Gilman and her poem.

And I would like you to tell me whether you think it's true or false.

Let's get started.

Gilman was part of the women's suffrage movement.

True or false.

After three.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

It is, of course, true.

And remember, Gilman herself was raised by an extended family, including her aunt, Isabel Beecher Hooker, who was a renowned, a very important and famous feminist.

So she probably would have picked up on that and wanted to continue that fight for women's freedom.

Gilman is addressing her poem to men.

So the you, she is referring to is men.

Is that true or false? After three.

One, two, three.

It is of course, false.

The you is referring to the indifferent women.

The women that appear to be not interested and unconcerned about their role in the wider society.

In her poem, Gilman likens these indifferent women to animals who care for their young.

Is it true or false? After three.

One, two, three.

It is true.

Remember she likens the indifferent women who are just caring for their small pocket, their small family, to animals who only nurture their young.

Gilman, believed women should stay in the home.

Is that true or false? After three.

One, two, three.

It is of course false.

She believed in empowering women and making them realise that they have a wider role to fulfil in society.

Gilman believed we have a shared responsibility to protect one another.

Is that true or false? After three.

One, two, three.

It is true.

Remember, she's criticising the women that simply stay in their homes, looking after their own, their own family.

She's saying that the world would benefit, the world needs your love and maternal instinct.

The world needs you as a woman.

Gilman writes in a persuasive manner to promote change.

After three.

One, two, three.

It is true.

She's trying to persuade the indifferent women that they are worthy.

That they are worthy of empowerment.

So that's going to form the next part of our lesson.

Considering Gilman's use of persuasive techniques.

Now, being persuasive is probably something that you do in your sort of day to day and weekly lives.

I'm sure there'll be situations where you really want something, maybe from your parent or your carer or your sibling.

It might even be something as simple as, "I want to pick the film that we watch tonight." And so you have to start using persuasive techniques to try and make everyone feel the same way as you.

And so that's a very small and slightly insignificant example of being persuasive.

Here, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is trying to persuade the indifferent women that they have a wider role to fill in society and more than anything, that they are worthy of filling that role.

So, first of all, we're going to look at Gilman's use of a persuasive technique called direct address.

So I'd like you to pause the video, and read again this stanza.

Where do you think Gilman is using direct address here? Where is she directly addressing the indifferent women? Pause the video, think about that and resume the video once you are finished.

Great.

Did you get this? She uses you.

But she doesn't use it once, she uses it twice, three times, four times, just in this stanza.

And she then uses it throughout the poem.

So you, is an example of direct address.

You are more than welcome to take some notes down from the following slides.

You don't need to copy down the whole stanza, but just the word on this occasion, you, with the notes that I'm going to give you.

So use of direct address here is a really strong opener.

Immediately, you.

She's talking to you, the reader, the listener, and you're drawn in.

Because it feels really personal.

It feels conversational.

Although she, throughout the poem is just speaking directly to us, it suggests at the end that we need to respond to this.

And Gilman's hoping that we'll respond by changing our way or that the indifferent women will respond by changing their way.

So it's promoting engagement because the you is repeated throughout.

She doesn't just say you at the start of the poem and let it peter out, she keeps reminding the indifferent women.

You, you, you, you have a role to fill.

And really importantly, it makes Charlotte Perkins Gilman's voice really powerful.

She is an authority.

She is a presence.

And the fact that she is a woman is also a good example of what she's trying to promote among the indifferent women.

You, like me in this poem, we can have a voice in society.

Step outside of your homes.

So you're welcome to pause the video here and take down some notes based on Gilman's use of direct address.

Use of you.

Please resume the video once you are finished.

Another persuasive technique, that's a really important one and a really powerful one, is a rhetorical question.

Now, a rhetorical question is a question that doesn't necessitate an answer.

So I might ask somebody a rhetorical question and I'm not expecting them to verbally answer me back, but why I ask it, is because I'm hoping that they'll think about the question and they'll consider the question.

And it might promote them, it might make them act upon my question.

So here we've not got one, but we've got two uses of rhetorical question.

She's really making her indifferent women think about their role in society.

So just like the use of you, the rhetorical question promotes engagement.

She's talking directly to the listener, to the reader and it really requires them to think and to respond.

Now, when I say respond, I don't mean in a verbal sense.

They're not going to say, "Well, Charlotte, this is what I think." She's hoping they'll respond in their actions.

And it makes it personable and relatable.

It makes the reader feel like their view is worthwhile.

Their role in this discussion is worthy.

And that links to Perkins message in general, trying to empower these women.

So you're welcome to pause the video here and make some notes on Perkins Gilman's use of rhetorical questions.

Please resume the video once you are finished.

And finally, we've got emotive language.

So this is a really clever technique.

An example of emotive language is here.

Remember in this stanza, she says to the indifferent women, you cannot keep your small domestic, your small homely peace in your little pool of undeveloped love.

So she's criticising the fact that they're keeping themselves confined to these four walls.

And then she digs in, because she says, outside of your four walls, there are neglected, starved unmothered world.

And she's saying you have a role to play in that, as an indifferent women, because you are not making your voice, your nurturing capabilities accessible to the wider world.

And that phrase, neglected.

If you're neglected, you're not looked after.

Starved.

You're not getting the basic necessities you need.

Unmothered.

And she also uses the idea that this world is struggling and fighting.

It's the complete opposite of the world of the indifferent mother, the indifferent women, because they're happy in their little bubble.

And she suggests that their lives, that they struggle and they fight for, are bitter and they are broken.

So the use of emotive language here, it's meant to really create a reaction in the listener, in the reader.

Here, she's trying to make them feel sad, make them feel guilty for the fact that they are not utilising their position in society.

And she's hoping through doing that, that she is going to empower them.

She's going to make them step outside their four walls.

So the emotive language provides a comparison to the reader's life.

She's suggesting, "Okay, you have a life of domestic peace, "of love in your little undeveloped family, "but in the outside world, "there are people that are neglected, "starving, struggling, fighting, bitter and broken.

"You need to change that." So here she's emphasising the hardship suffered outside their world.

And she's hoping as with the direct address of you and the rhetorical questions, that this is going to promote action and change in the indifferent women.

That they're going to step outside their homes and they are going to enter society.

She's hoping to empower them.

So what I would like you to do, is you're going to answer for me, why does Gilman use the following persuasive techniques? And you're going to explain the importance of each of the techniques below.

So direct address, uses you, rhetorical question.

We've got an example of a rhetorical question there and emotive language, and we've got an example of emotive language.

So I'm going to talk you through an example, through direct address, just to get you thinking.

Your answer might look something like this.

Perkins begins her poem with the direct address of you.

The strength of her opening, echoes the strength of her message and forces the indifferent reader to engage with her ideas.

So you can see here, I have embedded the direct address of you.

So I've used a quotation from the text and I've analysed it.

Why is it important? Why did she bother to use this technique in her poem? I would like you to pause the video and do your own, for direct address, rhetorical question and emotive language, answering, why does Gilman use the following techniques? Please pause the video to complete this task and resume once you are finished.

Great.

Now you've had some time to complete the task.

Let's have a look at some possible answers.

Rhetorical question.

Gilman promotes engagement through her use of rhetorical questions.

So she's trying to get the reader, the listener to engage with her.

She asks the reader, whether this does not concern you in your little homes? Which makes the indifferent reader question their role in creating an equal society.

And finally, emotive language.

Gilman forces her reader to consider their happy lives in comparison with the neglected, starved, unmothered world that surrounds them.

Good.

So this person, when they're analysing emotive language, they've used the comparison quotation.

So they're saying that the indifferent reader needs to look at their happy life and compare it to the neglected and starved, unmothered world that exists outside.

Here, her use of emotive language emphasises the hardships that occur outside the indifferent reader's world and promotes action.

Great.

Hopefully you'll see with direct address, rhetorical question and emotive language, it's all about engaging the reader and promoting action.

Promoting change from them, and hopefully a change in the wider society.

You are welcome to pause the video here and make any necessary edits to your own answers.

Please resume the video once you are finished.

And finally, we're going to end by considering Gilman's message in her poem, "To The Indifferent Women".

What is she trying to tell her reader, tell her listener? So here, she states in the opening stanza, you, the indifferent women who are happy in a thousand homes or overworked therein to a dumb peace.

And if we zoom in on these key words, overworked and dumb peace, she's highlighting to the indifferent women that their boring life, their day to day life as a housewife and mother, in their four walls of their home imprisons them.

And so they're ignorant.

They lack knowledge about the challenges that exist beyond their four walls, because they only exist in their home.

They don't realise the hardships that other people are suffering in the wider society.

And Gilman is suggesting that this makes the indifferent women, these domestic, homely beings, people that are just playing a role for the domineering men.

So she begins the poem by emphasising the inferior nature of women in society.

And she suggesting they're imprisoned by men and that they need to break free of those four walls.

And first of all, open their eyes as to the struggles and hardships that exist in wider society.

And secondly, play their role in wider society.

So she's criticising society at the time, but she's also trying to empower women.

To make them realise they are worthy of a role in the wider society.

You're welcome to pause the video here and take down some notes based on this quotation.

Please resume the video once you were finished.

Do you believe the sorrow of the world does not concern you in your little homes? So here in little homes, Gilman is celebrating a woman's love and nurturing instinct, but she's criticising the fact that currently for these indifferent women, it just exists in their little home, in their family unit.

And she's suggesting that actually it needs exist outside because there's a big world out there.

A world of neglect, of hardships, of sorrow and you, you indifferent women, you play a role in that world.

So she's trying to educate her reader here, about the wider world, beyond their little home.

Please pause the video here and take down any necessary notes from this side.

And she says, yet you are mothers and a mother's care is the first step towards friendly and human life.

And here in this quotation, she's saying that by being confined and imprisoned to the little home, a woman is depriving, she's stopping the rest of the world from having her love, and from her ability to nurture and be caring and be kind, and she believes this is wrong.

She believes a woman needs to step outside their four walls.

And so here really, she's celebrating the role of women and empowering these women to have a wider role in society.

Please pause the video here and make any necessary notes from this slide.

Please resume once you are finished.

And finally, that lovely final stanza that reads, we all may have our homes in joy and peace when woman's life, in its rich power of love is joined with man's to care for all the world.

Now she's saying that women have a wider role in society, a wider role in the world.

They need to expand into the wider world.

They need to leave their little homes, and need to step into their wider society, where they join with man's, because women need to be given the opportunity to work with man to create a better world.

Because currently, when Gilman was writing, men were considered the superior, the more important, the more powerful gender.

And she's saying, no, women need to unite with men.

They need to work together with men in an equal footing.

"And so we need you." She says.

"We need you, the indifferent woman "to step outside your home and to enter the wider world, "because then, you will create a better world." Pause the video here and make any necessary notes.

So, I want you to consider this final question in this lesson.

What is Gilman's message in "To The Indifferent Women"? Using the symbols below that relate to the ideas we've just spoken and discussed, I'd like you to write an answer to the question above.

You might want to consider, what is she criticising? What is she educating women about? What is she celebrating about women? So please pause the video here and complete this task and resume once you are finished.

Great.

Now you've had some time to complete your task.

Let's look at an acceptable answer versus our good answer.

Our acceptable answer reads, she wants the indifferent women to leave their happy homes, which they are confined to and work with man to care for all the world.

Okay.

This person is correct in everything they've said, and they've used really nicely embedded quotations from the text.

Happy homes, man, care for all the world.

And they've used the phrase indifferent women as well.

However, they've used she, so they haven't told us the poet's name.

They haven't introduced us to the name of the poem and they could definitely find more detail.

Let's have a look at our good answer.

In her poem, "To The Indifferent Women", Perkins appears critical of women who are confined to their little homes, through her powerful use of direct address and rhetorical questions.

Great.

So this person has introduced the poem and the poet, and they have suggested that she appears to be critical, through her use of direct address and rhetorical questions.

So they've noted two persuasive techniques there.

Now the fact that it says, appears to be critical, suggests this person is going to go on to suggest, "Well, yes, she might be critical.

"She's also going to be something else." So let's see what they say.

She believes the wider society would benefit from a woman's love and nurturing instinct.

In reality, she is celebrating the role of women in society and attempting to promote change through educating the indifferent women as to their worth.

A worth that extends outside the four walls of their home.

Great.

I love what this person has done.

They've said on the one hand, the poem appears to be critical.

It appears to be negative about the indifferent women, but on the other hand, she's actually celebrating them.

She's saying you are so important in the wider society.

So she's criticising the fact that they don't step outside of their happy homes, but she's saying, "I'm criticising you because I want to empower you.

"You are such an important integral role in society.

"We need you.

The world needs you." So it's a really clever poem from Charlotte Perkins Gilman here.

You're welcome to pause the video here and make any necessary notes and changes to your own answer.

Please resume the video once you are finished.

Thank you for all of your hard work and engagement during today's lesson.

Please don't forget to complete the end of lesson quiz.

See you next time.

Bye.