Simone de Beauvoir was a French philosopher, novelist, and teacher. In The Second Sex, from 1949, she analyzed how society turns woman into the Other, always defined in relation to man. The book became a foundation of modern feminism, and her intellectual partnership with Sartre marked the twentieth century.
Core ideas
Being a woman is not a biological destiny but a social and historical construction
Society treats woman as the Other, defined from the standpoint of man
Economic independence is an essential step toward women's emancipation
The tradition: Feminist existentialist
Feminist existentialism applies existentialist ideas of freedom and choice to the situation of women. Beauvoir showed how society limits that freedom from childhood.
