Tag Archives: Female Authors
Bathsua Makin, c 1608-1675
By Claire Jones Scholar, writer, educator and early feminist Overview Bathsua Makin was one of a group of women, including Christine de Pizan, Margaret Cavendish and Mary Astell, who can be described as ‘early feminists’ (although the term ‘feminist’ only
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, c 1623-1674
by Claire Jones Playwright; poet; natural philosopher. It was famously said of Margaret Cavendish that she was different to the rest ‘of her frail sex’ who, unlike her, ‘have Fruitful Wombs but Barren Brains’. Gender in the seventeenth century The
Christine de Pizan and the ‘Querelle des femmes’
By Claire Jones Christine de Pizan’s choices and achievements were highly unusual for a woman in the male dominated culture of the Middle Ages. At a time when unflattering opinions about women were widely spread by writers, the church and
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
by Claire Jones Writer, feminist and radical; author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) Overview Mary Wollstonecraft was a passionate Enlightenment thinker who is generally celebrated as the first major feminist. Her most significant text, A Vindication
Writing wrongs? Women wordsmiths of the 18th and early 19th centuries
By Jennifer C Kelsey. The art of communication has always been important for women. Whether sharing thoughts, relating experiences, voicing opinions, giving advice or creating fictions, one vital means of communication for women in the past was through the written
