Feminist analysis, commentary, and research
Explore feminist perspectives through in-depth analysis and commentary.
213 articles
At an 1866 women’s rights convention, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper argues that voting rights matter but cannot by themselves secure equality. Black women face racial and gendered exclusion at once, and cannot be told to wait.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper / 8 minsTruth argues through labor, measuring cups and scripture; the differing 1851 and 1863 accounts also expose power over the public voice of Black women.
Sojourner TruthThe 1848 declaration links marriage, wages, voting and sexual morality, while revealing hierarchies that persist within the language of universal rights.
Seneca Falls ConventionIn an 1832 Boston address, Maria W. Stewart uses Christian rhetoric to call Black women and men toward learning and public participation while exposing how racialized labour restricts Black women’s opportunities.
Maria W. Miller Stewart / 8 minsOlympe de Gouges recasts revolutionary rights language in 1791 to ask why women remain outside citizenship, public speech and legal equality. This reading follows the declaration’s form and its historical limits.
Olympe de Gouges / 8 minsIn her 1691 reply to Sor Filotea, Sor Juana uses autobiography, theology and classical learning to defend women’s study. This reading keeps the convent setting, her elite position and the argument’s limits in view.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz / 8 mins