Protofeminist

Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism and 19th-century feminism are often subsumed into "feminism". The usefulness of the term ''protofeminist'' has been questioned by some modern scholars, as has the term ''postfeminist''.

History

Ancient Greece and Rome

Plato, according to Elaine Hoffman Baruch, " rguedfor the total political and sexual equality of women, advocating that they be members of his highest class... those who rule and fight." Book five of Plato's '' The Republic'' discusses the role of women:

Are dogs divided into hes and shes, or do they both share equally in hunting and in keeping watch and in the other duties of dogs? Or do we entrust to the males the entire and exclusive care of the flocks, while we leave the females at home, under the idea that the bearing and suckling their puppies is labour enough for them?

''The Republic'' states that women in Plato's ideal state should work alongside men, receive equal education, and share equally in all aspects of the state. The sole exception involved women working in capacities which required less physical strength.

In the first century CE, the Roman Stoic philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus entitled one of his 21 Discourses "That Women Too Should Study Philosophy", in which he argues for equal education of women in philosophy: "If you ask me what doctrine produces such an education, I shall reply that as without philosophy no man would be properly educated, so no woman would be. Moreover, not men alone, but women too, have a natural inclination toward virtue and the capacity for acquiring it, and it is the nature of women no less than men to be pleased by good and just acts and to reject the opposite of these. If this is true, by what reasoning would it ever be appropriate for men to search out and consider how they may lead good lives, which is exactly the study of philosophy, but inappropriate for women?"

Islamic world

While in the pre-modern period there was no formal feminist movement in Islamic nations, there were a number of important figures who spoke for improving women's rights and autonomy. The medieval mystic and philosopher Ibn Arabi argued that while men were favored over women as prophets, women were just as capable of sainthood as men.

In the 12th century, the Sunni scholar Ibn Asakir wrote that women could study and earn ''ijazahs'' in order to transmit religious texts like the hadiths. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families, who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters. However, some men did not approve of this practice, such as Muhammad ibn al-Hajj (died 1336), who was appalled by women speaking in loud voices and exposing their '' 'awra'' in the presence of men while listening to the recitation of books.

In the 12th century, the Islamic philosopher and ''qadi'' (judge) Ibn Rushd, commenting on Plato's views in ''The Republic'' on equality between the sexes, concluded that while men were stronger, it was still possible for women to perform the same duties as men. In ''Bidayat al-mujtahid'' (The Distinguished Jurist's Primer) he added that such duties could include participation in warfare and expressed discontent with the fact that women in his society were typically limited to being mothers and wives. Several women are said to have taken part in battles or helped in them during the Muslim conquests and fitnas, including Nusaybah bint Ka'ab and Aisha.

Christian medieval Europe

In Christian medieval Europe, the dominant view was that women were intellectually and morally weaker than men, having been tainted by the original sin of Eve as described in biblical tradition. This was used to justify many limits placed on women, such as not being allowed to own property, or being obliged to obey fathers or husbands at all times. This view and curbs derived from it were disputed even in medieval times. Medieval European protofeminists recognized as important to the development of feminism include Marie de France, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Bettisia Gozzadini, Nicola de la Haye, Christine de Pizan, Jadwiga of Poland, and Laura Cereta.

Women in the Peasants' Revolt

The 1381 Peasants' Revolt was a peasant rebellion in England in which English women played prominent roles. On 14 June 1381, the Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, was dragged from the Tower of London and beheaded by the rebels. Leading the group that executed him was Johanna Ferrour, who ordered his execution in response to Sudbury's harsh poll taxes. She also ordered the beheading of the Lord High Treasurer, Sir Robert Hales, for his involvement with the taxes. Ferrour also participated in the looting of the Savoy Palace by the rebels, stealing a chest of gold. The Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Sir John Cavendish, was beheaded by rebels after Katherine Gamen untied the boat he planned on escaping them in.

Bates College professor Sylvia Federico argues that women often had the strongest desire to participate in revolts, including the Peasants' Revolt. They did all that men did, and were just as violent in rebelling against the government, if not more so. Ferrour was not the only female leader of the Peasants' Revolt; one Englishwoman was indicted for encouraging an attack on a prison at Maidstone in Kent, and another was responsible for robbing a multitude of mansions, which left servants too scared to return afterwards. Although there were only a small number of female leaders involved in the Peasants' Revolt, there were surprising numbers of women among the rebels, including 70 in Suffolk. The women involved had valid reasons for desiring to be so and on occasions taking a leading role. The 1380 poll tax was tougher on married women, so it is unsurprising that some women were as violent as men in their involvement. Their acts of violence signified mounting hatred for the government.

Hrotsvitha

Hrotsvitha, a German secular canoness, was born about 935 and died about 973. Her work is still seen as important, as she was the first female writer from the German lands, the first female historian, and apparently the first person since antiquity to write dramas in the Latin West.

Since her rediscovery in the 1600s by Conrad Celtis, Hrotsvitha has become a source of particular interest and study for feminists, who have begun to place her work in a feminist context, some arguing that while Hrotsvitha was not a feminist, that she is important to the history of feminism.

European Renaissance

Restrictions on women

At the beginning of the renaissance, women's sole role and social value was held to be reproduction.

This gender role defined a woman's main identity and purpose in life. Socrates, a well-known exemplar of the love of wisdom to Renaissance humanists, said that he tolerated his first wife Xanthippe because she bore him sons, in the same way as one tolerated the noise of geese because they produce eggs and chicks. This analogy perpetuated the claim that a woman's sole role was reproduction.

Marriage in the Renaissance defined a woman: she was whom she married. Till marriage she remained her father's property. Each had few rights beyond privileges granted by a husband or father. She was expected to be chaste, obedient, pleasant, gentle, submissive, and unless sweet-spoken, silent. In William Shakespeare's 1593 play ''The Taming of the Shrew'', Katherina is seen as unmarriageable for her headstrong, outspoken nature, unlike her mild sister Bianca. She is seen as a wayward shrew who needs taming into submission. Once tamed, she readily goes when Petruchio summons her. Her submission is applauded; she is accepted as a proper woman, now "conformable to other household Kates."

Unsurprisingly, therefore, most women were barely educated. In a letter to Lady Baptista Maletesta of Montefeltro in 1424, the humanist Leonardo Bruni wrote, "While you live in these times when learning has so far decayed that it is regarded as positively miraculous to meet a learned man, let alone a woman." eonardo Bruni, "Study of Literature to Lady Baptista Maletesta of Montefeltro," 1494./ref> Bruni himself thought women had no need of education because they were not engaged in social forums for which such discourse was needed. In the same letter he wrote,

For why should the subtleties of... a thousand... rhetorical conundra consume the powers of a woman, who never sees the forum? The contests of the forum, like those of warfare and battle, are the sphere of men. Hers is not the task of learning to speak for and against witnesses, for and against torture, for and against reputation.... She will, in a word, leave the rough-and-tumble of the forum entirely to men."

"Witch literature"

Starting with the Malleus Maleficarum, Renaissance Europe saw the publication of numerous treatises on witches: their essence, their features, and ways to spot, prosecute and punish them. This helped to reinforce and perpetuate the view of women as dangerous, morally corrupt sinners who sought to corrupt men, and to retain the restrictions placed on them.

Advocating women's learning

Yet not all agreed with this negative view of women and the restrictions on them. Simone de Beauvoir states, "The first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her sex" was when Christine de Pizan wrote ''Épître au Dieu d'Amour'' (Epistle to the God of Love) and ''The Book of the City of Ladies'', at the turn of the 15th century. A notable male advocate of women's superiority was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in ''The Superior Excellence of Women Over Men''.

Catherine of Aragon, commissioned a book by Juan Luis Vives arguing that women had a right to education, and encouraged and popularized education for women in England in her time as Henry VIII's wife.

Vives and fellow Renaissance humanist Agricola argued that aristocratic women at least required education. Roger Ascham educated Queen Elizabeth I, who read Latin and Greek and wrote occasional poems