Women in the Enlightenment
[1] Even so, salons, coffeehouses, debating societies, academic competitions and print all became avenues for women to socialize, learn and discuss enlightenment ideas.
For many women, these avenues furthered their roles in society and created stepping stones for future progress.
For those women who were able to discuss and advance new ideals, discourse on religion, political and social equality, and sexuality became prominent topics in the salons, debating societies, and in print.
Influential philosophers and thinkers such as John Locke, David Hume, Adam Smith, Nicolas de Condorcet, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau debated matters of gender equality.
[4] Challenging the popular inequality, Locke believed that the notion that men are superior to women was created by man.
Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) used similar arguments, stating that women ought to have education commensurate with their position in society.
[6] De Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791) as a testament to the political inequality of women and to challenge male authority in society.
Mary Astell in her essay "Some Reflections Upon Marriage" brings up how two saints, St. Paul and St. Peter, don't bring up the Law of Nature as their reasoning for women submitting themselves to their husbands, but different reasons: BUT the Scripture commands Wives to submit themselves to their own Husbands.
Nay, St. Paul, as if he foresaw and meant to prevent this Plea, giving Directions for their Conduct to Women in general, I Tim.
[8]Judith Sargent Murray also contracts general reading of scripture with her discussion of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, saying that Eve is the one less at fault for their being kicked out because of her lack of knowledge, and Adam, who had more knowledge about their situation, was not blindly lead to his own ruin as he is usually portrayed and thus more at fault for his being expelled.
Some of them, including Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft, directly bring up Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his opinions on women to contradict them and show how they aren't applicable in a fully functioning society.
We will meet upon even ground, the despot man; we will rush with alacrity to the combat, and, crowned by success, we shall then answer the exalted expectations which are formed.
[13] Salons of France were assembled by a small number of elite women who were concerned with education and promoting philosophies of the Enlightenment.
[16] Suzanne Necker, wife to Louis XVI's financial minister, provides an example of how the salons' topics may have had a bearing on official government policy.
As informal practices of education, coffeehouses were often condemned and deemed improper by male scholars who were accustomed to completely male-dominated institutions.
King's fashionable coffeehouse operated into late hours of the night and catered to clientele very different from the virtuosi.
[23] Her coffeehouse shows that Enlightenment women were not always simply the timid gender, governors of polite conversation, or protectorates of aspiring artists.
[27] Women's attendance at debating societies was seen as an incursion on male space and drew considerable criticism.
[24] The topics often dealt with questions of male and female relations, marriage, courtship, and whether women should be allowed to partake in the political culture.
[28] Although women attended and participated in debating societies, they were often accused of not holding valid arguments and acting simply as puppets.
[31] Through the production of cheap editions and through the expanding amount of books targeted toward a female readership, women were more able to access education.
[31] Some historians, such as Pieretti and John Iverson, say participation of women in academic competitions peaked during the time of King Louis XIV and slowly tapered off.
