Damaris Masham's house, Oates, in England Why did Masham become a philosopher? Damaris Masham's dad was a philosopher, and when she grew up her boyfriend, John Locke, was also a philosopher. [...]
Simone de Beauvoir was a philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's childhood Simone de Beauvoir's family lost most of their money after World War I. But by the early 1900s, even struggling families [...]
Mary Astell Mary Astell's backstory Unlike the slightly older Masham, and most other Enlightenment philosophers, Mary Astell was not from a really rich family. Who was Damaris Masham? Enlightenment philosophers European philosophers [...]
Albigensians were also called Cathars This story starts about 1050 AD, not long after the Capetians took power in northern France. Some Christian people in the south of France began to think differently about God from the [...]
Modern Buddhist nuns in northern India Women in early Buddhism The earliest Buddhists in India were both men and women, and there were Buddhist nuns as early as Buddhist monks. [...]
Catherine the Great Women had always been more equal to men in Central Asia than in China, West Asia, India or Europe, and women continued to do better in Central [...]
