Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as
18th-century feminism
The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions dependin ...
and
19th-century feminism
The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronology, chronological or thematic) of the Feminist movement, movements and Feminist theory, ideologies which have aimed at Feminism and equality, equal Women's rights, rights for women. Whil ...
are often subsumed into "feminism". The usefulness of the term ''protofeminist'' has been questioned by some modern scholars, as has the term
''postfeminist''.
History
Ancient Greece and Rome
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, according to Elaine Hoffman Baruch, "
rguedfor the total political and sexual equality of women, advocating that they be members of his highest class... those who rule and fight." Book five of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''
The Republic'' discusses the role of women:
Are dogs divided into hes and shes, or do they both share equally in hunting and in keeping watch and in the other duties of dogs? Or do we entrust to the males the entire and exclusive care of the flocks, while we leave the females at home, under the idea that the bearing and suckling their puppies is labour enough for them?
''The Republic'' states that women in Plato's ideal state should work alongside men, receive equal education, and share equally in all aspects of the state. The sole exception involved women working in capacities which required less physical strength.
In the first century CE, the Roman
Stoic philosopher
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
Gaius Musonius Rufus
Gaius Musonius Rufus (; grc-gre, Μουσώνιος Ῥοῦφος) was a Roman Stoic philosopher of the 1st century AD. He taught philosophy in Rome during the reign of Nero and so was sent into exile in 65 AD, returning to Rome only under Galba ...
entitled one of his 21 Discourses "That Women Too Should Study Philosophy", in which he argues for equal education of women in philosophy: "If you ask me what doctrine produces such an education, I shall reply that as without philosophy no man would be properly educated, so no woman would be. Moreover, not men alone, but women too, have a natural inclination toward virtue and the capacity for acquiring it, and it is the nature of women no less than men to be pleased by good and just acts and to reject the opposite of these. If this is true, by what reasoning would it ever be appropriate for men to search out and consider how they may lead good lives, which is exactly the study of philosophy, but inappropriate for women?"
Islamic world
While in the pre-modern period there was no formal feminist movement in Islamic nations, there were a number of important figures who spoke for improving women's rights and autonomy. The medieval mystic and philosopher
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
argued that while men were favored over women as prophets, women were just as capable of
sainthood
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
as men.
In the 12th century, the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
scholar
Ibn Asakir
Ibn Asakir ( ar-at, ابن عساكر, Ibn ‘Asākir; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib S ...
wrote that women could study and earn ''
ijazah
An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...
s'' in order to transmit religious texts like the
hadiths
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families, who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters. However, some men did not approve of this practice, such as Muhammad ibn al-Hajj (died 1336), who was appalled by women speaking in loud voices and exposing their ''
'awra'' in the presence of men while listening to the recitation of books.
In the 12th century, the
Islamic philosopher
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logi ...
and ''
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' (judge)
Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, ...
, commenting on Plato's views in ''The Republic'' on equality between the sexes, concluded that while men were stronger, it was still possible for women to perform the same duties as men. In ''Bidayat al-mujtahid'' (The Distinguished Jurist's Primer) he added that such duties could include participation in warfare and expressed discontent with the fact that women in his society were typically limited to being mothers and wives. Several women are said to have taken part in battles or helped in them during the
Muslim conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
and
fitnas, including
Nusaybah bint Ka'ab
Nusaybah bint Ka'ab ( ar, نسيبة بنت كعب; also ''ʾUmm ʿAmmarah'', ''Umm Umara'', ''Umm marah''Ghadanfar, Mahmood Ahmad. "Great Women of Islam", Riyadh. 2001.pp. 207-215), was one of the early women to convert to Islam. She was one of t ...
and
Aisha
Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al-mu'min, muʾminīn), ...
.
Christian Medieval Europe
Here the dominant view was that women were intellectually and morally weaker than men, having been tainted by the original sin of Eve as described in biblical tradition. This was used to justify many limits placed on women, such as not being allowed to own property, or being obliged to obey fathers or husbands at all times. This view and curbs derived from it were disputed even in medieval times. Medieval protofeminists recognized as important to the development of feminism include
Marie de France
Marie de France ( fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court ...
,
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...
,
Bettisia Gozzadini
Bettisia Gozzadini (1209 – 2 November 1261) was a jurist who lectured at the University of Bologna from about 1239. She is thought to be the first woman to have taught at a university.
Life
Gozzadini was born in the commune of Bologna, in ...
,
Nicola de la Haye
Nicola de la Haie (born c. 1150; d. 1230), of Swaton in Lincolnshire, (also written de la Haye) was an English landowner and administrator who inherited from her father not only lands in both England and Normandy but also the post of hereditary ...
,
Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes.
Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...
,
Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga (; 1373 or 137417 July 1399), also known as Hedwig ( hu, Hedvig), was the first woman to be crowned as monarch of the Kingdom of Poland. She reigned from 16 October 1384 until her death. She was the youngest daughter of Louis the Great, ...
,
Laura Cereta
Laura Cereta (September 1469 – 1499), was one of the most notable humanism, humanist and feminist writers of fifteenth-century Italy. Cereta was the first to put women’s issues and her friendships with women front and center in her work. Ceret ...
, and
La Malinche
Marina or Malintzin ( 1500 – 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche , a Nahua peoples , Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an in ...
.
Women in the Peasants' Revolt
The English
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...
of 1381 was a rebellion against serfdom, in which many women played prominent roles. On 14 June 1381, the
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
and
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, Simon of Sudbury, was dragged from the Tower of London and beheaded. Leading the group was Johanna Ferrour, who ordered this in response to Sudbury's harsh poll taxes. She also ordered the beheading of the Lord High Treasurer, Sir
Robert Hales
Sir Robert Hales ( – 14 June 1381) was Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitaller of England, Lord High Treasurer, and Admiral of the West. He was killed in the Peasants' Revolt.
Career
In 1372 Robert Hales became the Lord/Grand Prior of th ...
for his role in them. In addition to leading these rebels, Ferrour burned down the
Savoy Palace
The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of prince John of Gaunt until it was destroyed during rioting in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The palace was on the site of an estate given to ...
and stole a duke's chest of gold. The Chief Justice
John Cavendish
Sir John Cavendish (c. 1346 – 15 June 1381) was an English judge and politician from Cavendish, Suffolk, England. He and the village gave the name Cavendish to the aristocratic families of the Dukedoms of Devonshire, Newcastle Newcastle us ...
was beheaded by Katherine Gamen, another female leader.
An Associate Professor of English at Bates College, Sylvia Federico, argues that women often had the strongest desire to participate in revolts, this one in particular. They did all that men did: they were just as violent in rebelling against the government, if not more so. Ferrour was not the only female leader of the revolt; others were involved — one woman indicted for encouraging an attack on a prison at Maidstone in Kent, another responsible for robbing a multitude of mansions, which left servants too scared to return afterwards. Although there were not many female leaders in the Peasants' Revolt, there were surprising numbers in the crowd, for instance, 70 in Suffolk.
The women involved had valid reasons for desiring to be so and on occasions taking a leading role. The poll tax of 1380 was tougher on married women, so it is unsurprising that some women were as violent as men in their involvement. Their acts of violence signified mounting hatred for the government.
Hrotsvitha
Hrotsvitha
Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writ ...
, a German secular canoness, was born about 935 and died about 973. Her work is still seen as important, as she was the first female writer from the German lands,
the first female historian,
and apparently the first person since antiquity to write dramas in the Latin West.
Since her rediscovery in the 1600s by Conrad Celtis,
Hrotsvitha has become a source of particular interest and study for feminists,
who have begun to place her work in a feminist context, some arguing that while Hrotsvitha was not a feminist, that she is important to the history of feminism.
European Renaissance
Restrictions on women
![Christine de Pisan - cathedra](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Christine_de_Pisan_-_cathedra.jpg)
At the beginning of the renaissance, women's sole role and social value was held to be reproduction.
This gender role defined a woman's main identity and purpose in life.
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
, a well-known exemplar of the love of wisdom to
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
humanists, said that he tolerated his first wife
Xanthippe
Xanthippe (; , , ; 5th–4th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian, the wife of Socrates and mother of their three sons: Lamprocles, Sophroniscus, and Menexenus. She was likely much younger than Socrates, perhaps by as much as 40 years.
Name
...
because she bore him sons, in the same way as one tolerated the noise of geese because they produce eggs and chicks. This analogy perpetuated the claim that a woman's sole role was reproduction.
Marriage in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
defined a woman: she was whom she married. Till marriage she remained her father's property. Each had few rights beyond privileges granted by a husband or father. She was expected to be chaste, obedient, pleasant, gentle, submissive, and unless sweet-spoken, silent. In
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's 1593 play ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'', Katherina is seen as unmarriageable for her headstrong, outspoken nature, unlike her mild sister Bianca. She is seen as a wayward shrew who needs taming into submission. Once tamed, she readily goes when Petruchio summons her, almost like a dog. Her submission is applauded; she is accepted as a proper woman, now "conformable to other household Kates."
Unsurprisingly, therefore, most women were barely educated. In a letter to Lady Baptista Maletesta of Montefeltro in 1424, the humanist
Leonardo Bruni
Leonardo Bruni (or Leonardo Aretino; c. 1370 – March 9, 1444) was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. He has been called the first modern historian. H ...
wrote, "While you live in these times when learning has so far decayed that it is regarded as positively miraculous to meet a learned man, let alone a woman."
[ eonardo Bruni, "Study of Literature to Lady Baptista Maletesta of Montefeltro," 1494./ref> Bruni himself thought women had no need of education because they were not engaged in social forums for which such discourse was needed. In the same letter he wrote,]
For why should the subtleties of... a thousand... rhetorical conundra consume the powers of a woman, who never sees the forum? The contests of the forum, like those of warfare and battle, are the sphere of men. Hers is not the task of learning to speak for and against witnesses, for and against torture, for and against reputation.... She will, in a word, leave the rough-and-tumble of the forum entirely to men."
"Witch literature"
Starting with the Malleus Maleficarum
The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name ''Henricus Institor'') and first ...
, Renaissance Europe saw the publication of numerous treatises on witches: their essence, their features, and ways to spot, prosecute and punish them. This helped to reinforce and perpetuate the view of women as morally corrupt sinners, and to retain the restrictions placed on them.
Advocating women's learning
Yet not all agreed with this negative view of women and the restrictions on them. Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
states, "The first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her sex" was when Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes.
Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...
wrote ''Épître au Dieu d'Amour'' (Epistle to the God of Love) and ''The Book of the City of Ladies
''The Book of the City of Ladies'' or ''Le Livre de la Cité des Dames'' (finished by 1405), is perhaps Christine de Pizan's most famous literary work, and it is her second work of lengthy prose. Pizan uses the vernacular French language to comp ...
'', at the turn of the 15th century. An early male advocate of women's superiority was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' published in 1533 drew ...
in ''The Superior Excellence of Women Over Men''.
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
, the first official female ambassador in European history, commissioned a book by Juan Luis Vives
Juan Luis Vives March ( la, Joannes Lodovicus Vives, lit=Juan Luis Vives; ca, Joan Lluís Vives i March; nl, Jan Ludovicus Vives; 6 March 6 May 1540) was a Spanish (Valencian) scholar and Renaissance humanist who ...
arguing that women had a right to education, and encouraged and popularized education for women in England in her time as Henry VIII's wife.
Vives and fellow Renaissance humanist
Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...
Agricola
Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to:
People Cognomen or given name
:''In chronological order''
* Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85)
* Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...
argued that aristocratic women at least required education. Roger Ascham
Roger Ascham (; c. 151530 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, ...
educated Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
, who read Latin and Greek and wrote occasional poems
Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage.
Term
As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work ...
such as ''On Monsieur's Departure
"On Monsieur’s Departure" is an Elizabethan literature, Elizabethan poem attributed to Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth I. It is written in the form of a meditation on the failure of her marriage negotiations with Francis, Duke of Anjou, but ha ...
'' that are still anthologized. She was seen as having talent without a woman's weakness, industry with a man's perseverance, and the body of a weak and feeble woman, but the heart and stomach of a king. The only way she could be seen as a good ruler was through manly qualities. Being a powerful and successful woman in the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, like Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
, meant in some ways being male – a perception that limited women's potential as women.
Aristocratic women had greater chances of receiving an education, but it was not impossible for lower-class women to become literate. A woman named Margherita, living during the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, learned to read and write at the age of about 30, so there would be no mediator for the letters exchanged between her and her husband. Although Margherita defied gender role
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
s, she became literate not to become a more enlightened person, but to be a better wife by gaining the ability to communicate with her husband directly.
Learned women in Early Modern Europe
Women who received an education often reached high standards of learning and wrote in defence of women and their rights. An example is the 16th-century Venetian author Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi
Moderata Fonte, directly translates to Modest Well is a pseudonym of Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi (or Zorzi), also known as Modesto Pozzo (or Modesta, feminization of Modesto), (1555–1592) was a Venetian writer and poet. Besides the posthumously ...
. The painter Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola ( – 16 November 1625), also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola, was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a ...
(c. 1532–1625) was born into an enlightened family in Cremona
Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...
. She and her sisters were educated to male standards, and four out of five became professional painters. Sofonisba was the most successful of all, crowning her career as court painter to the Spanish king Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
.
The famous Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
salons that held intelligent debate and lectures were not welcoming to women. This exclusion from public forums led to problems for educated women. Despite these constraints, many women were capable voices of new ideas. Isotta Nogarola
Isotta Nogarola (1418–1466) was an Italian writer and intellectual who is said to be the first major female humanist and one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance. She inspired generations of artists and writers, among them ...
fought to belie such literary misogyny through defenses of women in biographical work and the exoneration of Eve. She made a space for women's voice in this time period, being regarded as a female intellectual. Similarly, Laura Cereta
Laura Cereta (September 1469 – 1499), was one of the most notable humanism, humanist and feminist writers of fifteenth-century Italy. Cereta was the first to put women’s issues and her friendships with women front and center in her work. Ceret ...
re-imagined the role of women in society and argued that education is a right for all humans and going so far as to say that women were at fault for not seizing their educational rights. Cassandra Fedele
Cassandra Fedele (c. 1465 – 1558) was an Italian humanist writer. She has been called the most renowned woman scholar in Italy during the last decades of the Quattrocento.
Early life
Fedele was born in Venice in 1465 to Barbara Leoni and Angel ...
was the first to join a humanist gentleman's club, declaring that womanhood was a point of pride and equality of the sexes was essential. Other women including Margaret Roper
Margaret Roper (1505–1544) was an English writer and translator. Roper, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, is considered to have been one of the most learned women in sixteenth-century England. She is celebrated for her filial piety and sch ...
, Mary Basset
Mary Basset ( – 20 March 1572; née Roper; also Clarke) was a translator of works into the English language. Basset is cited as the only woman during the reign of Mary Tudor to have her work appear in print.
As the daughter of Margaret Roper a ...
and the Cooke sisters gained recognition as scholars by making important translating contributions. Moderata Fonte
Moderata Fonte, directly translates to Modest Well is a pseudonym of Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi (or Zorzi), also known as Modesto Pozzo (or Modesta, feminization of Modesto), (1555–1592) was a Venetian writer and poet. Besides the posthumousl ...
and Lucrezia Marinella
Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was an Italian poet, author, and an advocate of women's rights. She is best known for her writing ''The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men''. Her works have been noted for bringing wom ...
were among some of the first women to adopt male rhetoric styles to rectify the inferior social context for women. Men at the time also recognised that certain women intellectuals had possibilities, and began writing their biographies, as Jacopo Filippo Tomasini did. The modern scholar Diana Robin outlined the history of intellectual women as a long and noble lineage.
The Reformation
The Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was a milestone in the development of women's rights and education. As Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
rested on believers' direct interaction with God, the ability to read the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
and prayer books suddenly became necessary to all, including women and girls. Protestant communities started to set up schools where ordinary boys and girls were taught basic literacy.
Protestants no longer saw women as weak and evil sinners, but as worthy companions of men needing education to become capable wives.
Spanish colonial America
India Juliana
Juliana, better known as the India Juliana
Juliana (), better known as the India Juliana (Spanish for "Indian Juliana" or "Juliana the Indian"), is the Christian name of a Guaraní woman who lived in the newly founded Asunción, in early-colonial Paraguay, known for killing a Spanish co ...
, was the Christian name
A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often assigned by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...
of a Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to
Ethnography
* Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia)
* Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay
* ...
woman who lived in the newly-founded Asunción
Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay.
The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...
, in early-colonial Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
, known for killing a Spanish colonist between 1538 and 1542. She was one of the many indigenous women who were handed over to the Spanish colonists
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...
and forced to move to their settlements to serve them and bear children. Juliana poisoned her Spaniard master and boasted of her actions to her peers, ending up executed as a warning to other indigenous women not to do the same.
Today, the India Juliana is regarded as an early feminist and a symbol of women's liberation, and her figure is of special interest for Paraguayan women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
and feminist historians
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
. The figure of the India Juliana has been reclaimed as a foremother by Paraguayan academics and activists as part of a process of "recovery of feminist and women's genealogies" in South America, intended to move away from the Eurocentric
Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism)
is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world ...
vision. The same has happened in Ecuador with Dolores Cacuango
Dolores Cacuango (26 October 1881, Pesillo, Cayambe, Ecuador – 23 April 1971, Yanahuayco), also known as Mamá Doloreyuk, was a pioneer in the fight for indigenous and farmers rights in Ecuador. She stood out in the political arena and was one ...
and Tránsito Amaguaña; in the central Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
region with Bartolina Sisa and Micaela Bastidas
Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua (born in Tamburco, 1744; died in Cusco, May 18, 1781) was a pioneering indigenous leader against Spanish rule in South America, and a martyr for Peruvian independence. With her husband Túpac Amaru II, she led a rebelli ...
; and in Argentina with María Remedios del Valle and Juana Azurduy
Juana Azurduy de Padilla (July 12, 1780 – May 25, 1862) was a guerrilla military leader from Chuquisaca, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now Sucre, Bolivia).Pallis, Michael “Slaves of Slaves: The Challenge of Latin American Women” (Lon ...
. According to the researcher Silvia Tieffemberg, her revenge "crossed ethnic and gender barriers simultaneously." Several feminist groups, schools, libraries and centers for the promotion of women in Paraguay are named after her, and she is "carried as a banner" in the annual demonstrations of International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
and the .
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in the Or ...
was a nun in colonial New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
in the 17th century. She was an illegitimate Criolla
Criolla is a genre of Cuban music which is closely related to the music of the Cuban Coros de Clave and a genre of Cuban popular music called Clave.
The Clave became a very popular genre in the Cuban vernacular theater and was created by compose ...
, born to an absent Spanish father and a Criolla mother. Not only was she highly intelligent, but also self-educated, having studied in her wealthy grandfather's library. Sor Juana as a woman was barred from entering formal education. She pleaded with her mother to let her masculinize her appearance and attend university under a male guise. After the Vicereine Leonor Carreto took Sor Juana under her wing, the Viceroy, the Marquis de Mancera, provided Sor Juana with the chance to prove her intelligence. She exceeded all expectations, and legitimized by the vice-regal court, established a reputation for herself as an intellectual.
For reasons still debated, Sor Juana became a nun. While in the convent, she became a controversial figure, advocating recognition of women theologians, criticizing the patriarchal and colonial structures of the Church, and publishing her own writing, in which she set herself as an authority. Sor Juana also advocated for universal education and language rights. Not only did she contribute to the historic discourse of the Querelle des Femmes, but she has also been recognized as a protofeminist, religious feminist, and ecofeminist
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
, and is connected with lesbian feminism
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
.
17th century
Nonconformism, protectorate and restoration
Marie de Gournay
Marie de Gournay (; 6 October 1565, Paris – 13 July 1645) was a French writer, who wrote a novel and a number of other literary compositions, including ''The Equality of Men and Women'' (''Égalité des hommes et des femmes'', 1622) and ' ...
(1565–1645) edited the third edition of Michel de Montaigne
Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
's ''Essays
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...
'' after his death. She also wrote two feminist essays: ''The Equality of Men and Women'' (1622) and ''The Ladies' Grievance'' (1626). In 1673, François Poullain de la Barre
François Poullain de la Barre (; July 1647 – 4 May 1723) was an author, Catholic priest, and a Cartesian philosopher.
Life
François Poullain de la Barre was born on July 1647 in Paris, France, to a family with judicial nobility. He added "de l ...
wrote ''De l'Ėgalité des deux sexes'' (On the equality of the two sexes).[
The 17th century saw many new ]nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
sects such as the Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
give women greater freedom of expression. Noted feminist writers included Rachel Speght
Rachel Speght (1597 – death date unknown) was a poet and polemicist. She was the first Englishwoman to identify herself, by name, as a polemicist and critic of gender ideology. Speght, a feminist and a Calvinist, is perhaps best known for her tr ...
, Katherine Evans, Sarah Chevers, Margaret Fell
Margaret Fell orMargaret Fox ( Askew, formerly Fell; 1614 – 23 April 1702) was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends. Known popularly as the "mother of Quakerism," she is considered one of the Valiant Sixty early Quaker preachers and mi ...
(a founding Quaker), Mary Forster and Sarah Blackborow
Sarah Blackborow ( fl. 1650s – 1660s) was the English author of religious tracts, which strongly influenced Quaker thinking on social problems and the theological position of women. She was one of several prominent female activists in the ear ...
. This gave prominence to some female ministers and writers such as Mary Mollineux and Barbara Blaugdone
Barbara Blaugdone (c. 1609–1704) was an English Quaker preacher, who left an autobiographical account of her travels, evangelism, and religious and political views. She was imprisoned several times for preaching her beliefs.
Earlier life
Bla ...
in Quakerism's early decades.
In general, though, women who preached or expressed opinions on religion were in danger of being suspected of lunacy or witchcraft, and many, like Anne Askew
Anne Askew (sometimes spelled Ayscough or Ascue) married name Anne Kyme, (152116 July 1546) was an English writer, poet, and Anabaptist preacher who was condemned as a heretic during the reign of Henry VIII of England. She and Margaret Chey ...
, who was burned at the stake for heresy,[Lerner, Gerda. "Religion and the creation of feminist consciousness". Harvard Divinity Bulletin November 2002](_blank)
died "for their implicit or explicit challenge to the patriarchal order".
In France and England, feminist ideas were attributes of heterodoxy
In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, wh ...
, such as the Waldensians
The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation.
Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...
and Catharists, rather than orthodoxy. Religious egalitarianism, such as that embraced by the Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populis ...
, carried over into gender equality and so had political implications. Leveller women mounted demonstrations and petitions for equal rights, although dismissed by the authorities of the day.
The 17th century also saw more women writers emerging, such as Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet (née Dudley; March 8, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in Am ...
, Bathsua Makin
Bathsua Reginald Makin (; 1600 – c. 1675) was a teacher who contributed to the emerging criticism of woman's position in the domestic and public spheres in 17th-century England. Herself a highly educated woman, Makin was referred to as Englan ...
, Margaret Cavendish
Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623 – 15 December 1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer and playwright.
Her husband, William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was Cavalier, R ...
, Duchess of Newcastle, Lady Mary Wroth
Lady Mary Wroth (née Sidney; 18 October 1587 – 1651/3) was an English noblewoman and a poet of the English Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary family, Lady Wroth was among the first female English writers to have achieved an en ...
, the anonymous Eugenia
''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...
, Mary Chudleigh
Mary, Lady Chudleigh (; August 1656–1710) was an English poet who belonged to an intellectual circle that included Mary Astell, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and John Norris. In her later ye ...
, and Mary Astell
Mary Astell (12 November 1666 – 11 May 1731) was an English protofeminist writer, philosopher, and rhetorician. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."Batchelor, Jennie ...
, who depicted women's changing roles and pleaded for their education. However, they encountered hostility, as shown by the experiences of Cavendish and of Wroth, whose work was unpublished until the 20th century.
Seventeenth-century France saw the rise of salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
s – cultural gathering places of the upper-class intelligentsia – which were run by women and in which they took part as artists. But while women gained salon membership, they stayed in the background, writing "but not for ublication. Despite their limited role in the salons, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
saw them as a "threat to the 'natural' dominance of men".
Mary Astell is often described as the first feminist writer, although this ignores the intellectual debt she owed to Anna Maria van Schurman
Anna Maria van Schurman (November 5, 1607 – May 4, 1678) was a Dutch painter, engraver, poet, and scholar, who is best known for her exceptional learning and her defence of female education. She was a highly educated woman, who excelled in ...
, Bathsua Makin
Bathsua Reginald Makin (; 1600 – c. 1675) was a teacher who contributed to the emerging criticism of woman's position in the domestic and public spheres in 17th-century England. Herself a highly educated woman, Makin was referred to as Englan ...
and others who preceded her. She was certainly among the earliest feminist writers in English, whose analyses remain relevant today, and who moved beyond earlier writers by instituting educational institutions for women.[Joan Kinnaird, "Mary Astell: Inspired by ideas" in D. Spender, ed., ''Feminist Theories'', p. 29.] Astell and Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barrie ...
together laid the groundwork for feminist theory in the 17th century. No woman would speak out as strongly again for another century. In historical accounts, Astell is often overshadowed by her younger and more colourful friend and correspondent Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 168921 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, who later served a ...
.
Relaxation of social values and secularization in the English Restoration
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...
provided new chances for women in the arts, which they used to advance their cause. Yet female playwrights encountered similar hostility, including Catherine Trotter Cockburn
Catharine Trotter Cockburn (16 August 1679 – 11 May 1749) was an English novelist, dramatist, and philosopher. She wrote on moral philosophy, theological tracts, and had a voluminous correspondence.
Trotter's work addresses a range of issues ...
, Mary Manley and Mary Pix
Mary Pix (1666 – 17 May 1709) was an English novelist and playwright. As an admirer of Aphra Behn and colleague of Susanna Centlivre, Pix has been called "a link between women writers of the Restoration and Augustan periods".
Early years
M ...
. The most influential of all[Walters, Margaret. ''Feminism: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford University, 2005 ().] was Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barrie ...
, one of the first English women to earn her living as a writer, who was influential as a novelist, playwright and political propagandist.[Janet Todd, p. 2.] Although successful in her lifetime, Behn was often vilified as "unwomanly" by 18th-century writers like Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
and Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...
. Likewise, the 19th-century critic Julia Kavanagh said that "instead of raising man to woman's moral standards ehnsank to the level of man's courseness." Not until the 20th century would Behn gain a wider readership and critical acceptance. Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
praised her: "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."
Major feminist writers in continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
included Marguerite de Navarre
Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Queen ...
, Marie de Gournay
Marie de Gournay (; 6 October 1565, Paris – 13 July 1645) was a French writer, who wrote a novel and a number of other literary compositions, including ''The Equality of Men and Women'' (''Égalité des hommes et des femmes'', 1622) and ' ...
and Anna Maria van Schurman
Anna Maria van Schurman (November 5, 1607 – May 4, 1678) was a Dutch painter, engraver, poet, and scholar, who is best known for her exceptional learning and her defence of female education. She was a highly educated woman, who excelled in ...
, who attacked misogyny and promoted women's education. In Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, the first printed publication by a woman appeared in 1694: in ''Glaubens-Rechenschafft'', Hortensia von Moos
Hortensia von Moos (1659 in Maienfeld, Switzerland – 2 July 1715 also Maienfeld, Switzerland) was a Swiss scholar who was also known as Hortensia von Salis. She had extensive knowledge of many subjects, including theology and medicine, but ...
argued against the idea that women should stay silent. The previous year saw publication of an anonymous tract, ''Rose der Freyheit'' (Rose of Freedom), whose author denounced male dominance and abuse of women.
In the New World, the Mexican nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
, Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651–1695), advanced the education of women in her essay "Reply to Sor Philotea". By the end of the 17th century women's voices were becoming increasingly heard at least by educated women. Literature in the last decades of the century was sometimes referred to as the "Battle of the Sexes", and was often surprisingly polemic, such as Hannah Woolley
Hannah Woolley, sometimes spelled Wolley, (1622 – c.1675) was an English writer who published early books on household management; she was probably the first person to earn a living doing this.
Life
Her mother and elder sisters were all skil ...
's ''The Gentlewoman's Companion''.[Hannah Woolley, ''The Gentlewoman's Companion'', London, 1675.] However, women received mixed messages, for there was also a strident backlash and even self-deprecation by some women writers in response. They were also subjected to conflicting social pressures: fewer opportunities for work outside the home, and education that sometimes reinforced the social order as much as inspired independent thinking.
See also
*History of feminism
The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending ...
References
{{reflist, 30em
Feminism and history
Feminism and the arts
Protofeminism