Charlotte Perkins Gilman's If I Were a Man is a short story about a woman who imagines what life would be like if she were a man. The protagonist, Mrs. Brown, is a married woman who is dissatisfied with her life and her marriage. She fantasizes about what it would be like to be a man, and how she would be able to make her own decisions and have more freedom. She imagines that she would be able to travel, work, and have more control over her own life. In the end, she realizes that she is content with her life as a woman and that she can still make her own decisions and have freedom, even if she is not a man.
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman · First published 1914 · Genre: Feminist Literature, Social Criticism, Speculative Fiction