Mary Astell
Early English feminist philosopher and writer (1666–1731), born in Newcastle upon Tyne, a self-taught woman who learned Latin and philosophy thanks to a clergyman uncle, and who defied the conventions of her time by moving alone to London at twenty-two to pursue a literary life, supported by a circle of educated aristocratic female friends who protected her throughout her life. Considered by many historians the first English feminist in the full sense, her most influential work, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694), proposes the creation of an exclusively female academic institution, a kind of secular convent where women could devote themselves to study, philosophical reflection and contemplative life, away from the marital and domestic obligations that, according to Astell, prevented them from fully developing their reason — a reason that, she firmly maintained, was identical in men and women. Although the concrete project of this academy never materialised, despite initial interest from influential patrons, the book had an enormous impact and went through several editions. In Some Reflections upon Marriage (1700) she took her analysis into the political realm with devastating logic: if men reject the political absolutism of kings, why do they accept the domestic absolutism of husbands over wives? 'If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?' she asked in one of her most quoted formulations. Theoretically conservative in religion and politics — a convinced high Anglican and Tory — her combination of religious orthodoxy and radicalism on the question of women's intellectual equality makes her a complex and foundational figure in the early history of feminist thought.