“An Examination of the Role of Women in the Enlightenment”

In the traditional historiography of the Enlightenment in which historians regard it as a rather narrow, exclusively intellectual movement, the voice of women is almost, if not entirely, non-existent. However, a more inclusive interpretation of the Enlightenment, which adds cultural and social dimensions to it, allows for a place for her-story. In this essay, various roles that women played during the era of the Enlightenment are explored.