Reading Herland gives the twenty-first century reader a sense of how long the struggle for equality between the sexes has raged; at the same time, it makes plain the enormous obstacles that prevent any society from adopting a more equitable social code. If we accept Gilman's thesis, then we must accept that the greatest barrier between ours and a perfect civilization is the inadequacy of our educational system. A great society, Gilman argues, is built on properly trained citizens. This training, Gilman argues, should result in the erasure of ambition and selfishness as individuals dedicate themselves to the good of the community.

The individual does not, however, become a faceless cog in a machine in Gilman's ideal world. The women of the country she imagines still have a single ambition, to become mothers. Motherhood is the central concern of the whole population of Herland, a fact...