Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 - August 17, 1935) was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, poet, lecturer, and leading utopian feminist during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is best known for her semi-autobiographical short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) and her non-fiction treatise "Women and Economics" (1898), which argued for women's economic independence as a requirement for true equality.