The women of home and equality: constructing their own utopias in the Pacific Northwest

Sharon Conditt

This study considers both the formation of and the membership within the utopian communities of Home and Equality, Washington, and the role of gender in shaping those communities. It carefully examines why men and women founded each colony and the role of women in setting up and sustaining the political and economic frameworks along with community norms. Home and Equality are two of the utopian colonies founded near the Puget Sound region in the late nineteenth century. Limited studies have been done by historians on these two colonies but none have fully addressed the role of women and gender relations within the colonies. This thesis is the author's attempt to examine how utopian women of the Pacific Northwest constructed and contributed to the economic, social and political life of Home and Equality, while balancing radical norms against traditional gender ideas. The women at Home and Equality created a colony that valued and supported radical ideas but occasionally accommodated traditional gender ideas. Members at Home supported cohabitation without marriage, women's rights, and women's intellectual pursuits such as writing, publishing, lectures and leading discussion groups. But, the women who worked at Home often worked in traditional jobs" as secretaries for the local store or in subsistence agriculture. When a scandalous nude bathing incident hit the local news resulting in the arrest of community vi members, the local newspaper editor utilized language steeped in traditional gender imagery to gain support and empathy for the treatment of the Home colonists. Equality's women participated in governing through voting and leadership roles within the community. But, the women of Equality also worked in traditional gender-typed jobs such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing, although several women held qualifications for other non domestic positions. These women created a colony that valued education, hard work, intellectualism and community. They established colonies supportive of gender equality and rich in radical ideas. Although both colonies were short-lived, while in existence, Home and Equality offered genuine alternatives to the challenges created by late nineteenth-century industrial capitalism.

The women of home and equality: constructing their own utopias in the Pacific Northwest

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