"The Widow's Might", author Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story originally published in Forerunner magazine in 1911, is about a widow named Mrs. McPherson. That widow, much to the shock of her three children, has been running her late husband's ranch in Colorado for nearly three years after his death. And she was very successful in running the ranch, so she decides to use the money she earned to travel the world, something which also shocks the woman's children. She has spent much of her life, she argues, giving her life to her husband and her children. But the rest of her life, she says, will be hers. She will go to Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and all around South America.
At its core, "The Widow's Might" is a feminist story. It is a story about a younger woman who, despite the time period she lived in, rose up and became successful in a business run primarily by men. It is also a story of self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, and independence. And though Gilman's story isn't widely read or widely known, it received very positive reviews upon its publication and continued to receive positive reviews to this date. Over the course of her long and illustrious career, Gilman, who was a leading feminist and advocate for social reform, wrote nearly 200 short stories. And most of her short stories, including "The Widow's Might," came from that lens.
