Fri, Feb 12, 2016

In the 18th century  women were perceived  as the inferior sex and this idea is displayed in several of the news articles from “The Coffee – house Philosophical  Society”. A few points on the topic of male superiority that first caught my attention were made by Jean – Jacques Rousseau. In his essay one of his first claims are that Males should be active and strong and that women should be passive and weak. It’s hard to believe that these were actually considered to be social norms at the time, but despite what I may want to believe  these are fact. Women were expected to be submissive to their male counter  parts. Another eye catching statement from his essay were his thoughts on education in regards  to  women. In his opinion men and women shouldn’t be allowed the same type of education, as though women should be educated on a domestic  level. Ideas on gender equality that resemble those of Rousseau could  be problematic if they were allowed into the 19th century. There isn’t a superior gender, both are equal.