This study argues that 'new' ways of speaking about the nature and status of women are evident in the literary record of late seventeenth century England, particularly in the writings of Mary Astell (1666-1731). Writing to oppose the natural rights-based political theory of the 'Father of Modern Liberalism', John Locke, Astell employed the secular, rationalist, individualistic language which Locke himself used to argue the equal human dignity of women with men. Hers was the first unequivocal plea made by an English writer. The subject of this study is the provenance of these new modes of thinking about women. The result of a survey of primary sources, dating primarily from the period 1600-1700, it first seeks to show that seventeenth century England inherited a 'traditional' notion of women and their status from antiquity; scriptural, philosophical and empirical evidence of women's moral and intellectual equality with men coexisted uneasily with the consensual notion that they were men's subordinates. This notion survived the Continental and English Reformations to be incorporated into the theology of both the Church of England and the Puritans alike. Thinking and writing about women took place in the context of an 'ideology of order', wherein individuals were considered solely in relation to society and in terms of their obligations and status. It is then argued that the paradox of women's equal humanity and subordinate status first received serious interrogation during the political crises of 1640-1660. Radical Protestants, who placed the individual believer - male or female - at the centre of religious life, allowed women to participate to an unprecedented degree in worship. The potential of radical Protestantism to challenge the traditional subordination of women was obvious in the political theory of the 'Levellers', who secularised religious individualism to produce a programme of democratic reform. The invisibility of women in this proto-liberal programme is given special attention here. The paradox inherent in the traditional notion of woman was thrown into sharp relief, furthermore, in the course of the political debates between royalists and parliamentarians during the Civil War; both sides attempted to liken the relationship between king and people to that between husband and wife. The marriage analogue served to highlight the gap which was opening between political analysis and the justifications for the subordination for women. Finally, it is argued that renewed political crisis in the last two decades of the century saw the introduction of secular individualism to English political thought, reinforced with the 'new' metaphysics of Descartes. John Locke considered that since individuals constructed society for their own ends, they could resist government where these were not being served. Yet as Astell pointed out, Locke fell back upon the traditional assumption that women ought to be subordinated in this society to men. She adopted the new metaphysics to show not only that Locke's political conclusions were wrong and dangerous, but also to show that women, their subordinate social status notwithstanding, were of equal dignity and worth to men. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/274964 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | McCrystal, John |
| Publisher | ResearchSpace@Auckland |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Whole document restricted but available by request. Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated., http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm, Copyright: The author |
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