Edith Wharton's feminism is a unique brand of its own. It opposes any sort of radical feminism, yet it is still uniquely concerned with women's identities. Many women writers of the time, like Mary Wilkins Freeman, Willa Cather, and perhaps most notably Kate Chopin, critique the authoritarian nature of gender constructions and the sexual inequality that resulted. These writer's works deal with women who successfully assert their sexual and material independence in many ways. Their social critiques were necessary and timely, since women had few legal or reproductive rights during this time, but Wharton adds a different perspective to gender inequality