The Philosophical Foundations of Women's Rights: A New History, 1600-1750

This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by examining several texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) in early modern England and France (c. 1650–1750), against the backdrop of the rise of Cartesianism.