One of the more accepted definitions of feminism is the “advocacy of the rights of women (based on the theory of equality of the sexes)” (“Feminism”). This is an interesting definition, not because of its idea but rather because so often in today’s culture one assumes feminism is synonymous with womanism, which is the “advocacy of or enthusiasm for the rights, achievements, etc. of women” (“Womanism”). One forgets that feminism is very simply the effort to make women’s rights equal and equivalent to those of men. When adhering to this definition would Christine de Pizan, Mary Leapor, Mary Collier or Sarah Egerton be considered feminist writers?

Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies is an allegorical presentation of the famous women of and before the early 15th Century. She begins with the framework of a woman starved for literature about women, who, upon being dissatisfied with the material available to her, is visited by three ladies who tell her the stories of famous women, real and myth throughout history, building an imaginary city from the areas in which those women were active. This work is difficult to define as feminist literature as there is almost no happy medium, there is very little recognizing women’s equality to men, but rather, the entire book is a celebration of the accomplishments of women. It starts with the mythological Amazons of Greece, celebrated women warriors who “would have the left breast burnt off at a very early age in order to free them up to carry a shield” (Pizan 37), and the myths of the great women Queens and moves into the self-less mothers and daughters who give up of themselves for the betterment of their loved ones. From there Pizan moves to the righteous and faithful wives, and then the saints and martyrs and lastly the Queen of the City of Ladies, Mary, Mother of Jesus. There is hardly a section of the book in which Pizan presents women as equal to men, but rather as deserving more admiration than men because of their virtue or their strength. Pizan may have written a book that would be approved of by men, a book which does not express dissatisfaction with the state of equality between men and women; however the fact that she wrote it at all, when education levels for women and men were unequal and women had strict standards is a statement of the desire for equality between men and women.

Sarah Egerton’s The Emulation is a diatribe on the treatment of women at her time. At first glance one would assume that a piece so angry could not be feminist in nature but rather radical womanist or even Femi-Nazi in nature but upon closer inspection one realizes that what Egerton is describing is not a strong feeling of the superiority of women but rather a strong want for women to be on the very same level as men. Egerton’s piece is a statement on how women are the slaves to men, giving examples for how men exert their “superiority” over women, in religion, in science and learning, within the marriage and in all other social arenas. Egerton does not suggest that given the opportunity women would excel in these areas and far exceed the abilities of men, what she does suggest is that men believe they will and so must keep them controlled and locked in a tight box. Only at the end can one question to whether or not this piece is truly feminist in nature, when Egerton writes, “And shall these finite Males reserve their Rules / no, we’ll be Wits, and then Men must be Fools” (Egerton). Egerton speaks almost as though were it not for men keeping women locked away women would be the more intelligent of the species, however a more logical interpretation of the line is that if men released their iron grip on women, women could show the world what they are capable of and when women could prove they possessed a sharp mind with the same abilities as men, men would be fools, not because they are inferior to women, but rather foolish in the belief that they were superior to women.

Quite the opposite, Mary Leapor’s piece Mira’s Will seems to be feminist in nature until one delves further into the poem and realizes that it intentionally falls short. “Mira” writes her “will” as directions of her funeral. On the surface it has all of the components a man would expect at his however everything is lowered. The leader of her funeral procession is man who dreams of a success he can never have, she is mourned by men and women who either have yet to realize their potential through their profession or are not in a place to ever realize their pull potential due to circumstance or society. Her will does not express a want for equality, but it almost seems resigned to inequality, resigned to never getting that edge and always being second-class.

Mary Collier’s piece is also questionable. While she does not incontrovertibly say that women are superior to men, and thus falling into the womanist literature category, she does imply it. The piece is obviously written for the education of men in the 1730s teaching them just what women do all day. It sharply explains that not only does a woman take care of her husband she takes care of the home and her children and works outside of the home as well with her husband, helping him do his job while she does hers without help. While she never says that this makes women better sections of what she writes certainly has that tone of saying “you could never do what I do”. For example:

We all Things to your coming home prepare:
You sup, and go to Bed without Delay,
And rest yourselves till the ensuing Day;
While we, alas! But little Sleep can have
Because our forward Children cry and rave; (Collier)

This however can more likely be attributed to recognition of the unfairness of expectations for the different sexes as well as beseeching men for help within the home, helping them understand the amount of work a woman is expected to perform and asking only for equality with men, while she helps him outside would he help her inside. While this piece sits on the fence between feminism and womanism it can be rationalized as feminist literature as there is never any solid statement of superiority and removing the tone one gives it when reading it all Collier requests from her male counterpart is equality concerning the work load.

One important consideration as to whether or not the aforementioned and discussed writers are feminist writers is the face that these women were writing and being published at a time when literature was a male dominated and in fact a male world almost completely. This behavior of practicing a male occupation certainly would make these women feminists. At a time when women could be severely reprimanded for stepping out of the prescribed female roles of mother, daughter, sister, and nun or for complaining about their roles these women took a very risky chance and entered he male world. While not all of what was written by the women in question are demanding or even requesting equal rights the very fact that they wrote makes them feminists in the truest sense of the word, they all aided in moving towards equality between the sexes within whatever constraints society placed on them. All four writers viewed exploring the nature of women as progress and all four writers use literature, a male art form (at the time of their writing), as their means of exploring the nature of women and in doing so started chipping away at that glass ceiling which even today has yet to be broken through.

Works Cited
Collier, Mary. “The Woman’s Labour.” Class Handout.
Egerton, Sarah. “The Emulation.” Class Handout.
“Feminism.” Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Oxford University Press. 15 Oct 2007 .
Leapor, Mary. “Mira’s Will.” Class Handout.
Pizan, Christine de. The Book of the City of Ladies. London: Penguin Group, 1999.
“Womanism.” Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Oxford University Press. 15 Oct 2007 .