Ingeborg Winderen Owesen diskuterer og argumentere for nødvendigheten av å historisere feminismen som en tankeretning «in its own right». Deretter følger et forsøk på å gjøre nettopp det, altså historisere feminismen. Så løfter hun fram et interessant, men lite kjent filosofisk forfatterskap; Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565–1645). Gournay var muligens den aller første til å foreslå likestilling mellom menn og kvinner via begrepet «likhet» (égalité). Owesen hevder at hun dermed innleder et paradigmeskifte og legger grunnen for moderne feministisk tenkning.
The modern (philosophical) history of feminism & the case of Marie le Jars de Gournay
This article argues in favour of the importance of historicizing feminism and how, according to the author, this will reveal that feminism is an ongoing process which is far from finished. The article supports the view that feminism is an intellectual tradition in its own right and a system of thought with a dynamic relation to philosophy. This is illustrated by a presentation and reading of Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565–1645), who was probably the first thinker ever to propose equality between men and women. Gournay hence initiates modern feminist thought, which correctly takes equality/difference as its point of departure.