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A Serious Proposal to the Ladies

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Mary Astell’s A Serious Proposal to the Ladies is one of the most important and neglected works advocating the establishment of women’s academies. Its reception was so controversial that Astell responded with a lengthy sequel, also in this volume. The cause of great notoriety, Astell’s Proposal was imitated by Defoe in his “An Academy for Women,” parodied in the Tatler , satirized on the stage, plagiarized by Bishop Berkeley, and later mocked by Gilbert and Sullivan in Princess Ida.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1697

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About the author

Mary Astell

28 books25 followers
Mary Astell was an English feminist writer. Her advocacy of equal educational opportunities for women has earned her the title "the first English feminist."

Few records of Mary Astell's life have survived. As biographer Ruth Perry explains, "as a woman she had little or no business in the world of commerce, politics, or law. She was born, she died; she owned a small house for some years; she kept a bank account; she helped to open a charity school in Chelsea: these facts the public listings can supply." Only four of her letters were saved and these because they had been written to important men of the period. Researching the biography, Perry uncovered more letters and manuscript fragments, but she notes that if Astell had not written to wealthy aristocrats who could afford to pass down entire estates, very little of her life would have survived.

Mary Astell was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 November 1666, to Peter and Mary (Errington) Astell. Her parents had two other children, William, who died in infancy, and Peter, her younger brother. Her family was upper-middle-class and lived in Newcastle throughout her early childhood. Her father was a conservative royalist Anglican who managed a local coal company. As a woman, Mary received no formal education, although she did receive informal education from her uncle, an ex-clergyman whose bouts with alcoholism prompted his suspension from the Church of England. Mary's father died when she was twelve, leaving her without a dowry. With the remainder of the family finances invested in her brother's higher education, Mary and her mother relocated to live with Mary's aunt.

After the death of her mother and aunt in 1688, Mary moved to London. Her location in Chelsea meant that Astell was fortunate enough to become acquainted with a circle of literary and influential women (including Lady Mary Chudleigh, Elizabeth Thomas, Judith Drake, Elizabeth Elstob, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu), who assisted in the development and publication of her work. She was also in contact with the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, who was known for his charitable works; Sancroft assisted Astell financially and furthermore introduced her to her future publisher.

Astell died in 1731, a few months after a mastectomy to remove a cancerous right breast. In her last days, she refused to see any of her acquaintances and stayed in a room with her coffin, thinking only of God. She is remembered now for her ability to debate freely with both contemporary men and women, and particularly her groundbreaking methods of negotiating the position of women in society by engaging in philosophical debate (Descartes was a particular influence) rather than basing her arguments in historical evidence as had previously been attempted. Descartes' theory of dualism, a separate mind and body, allowed Astell to promote the idea that women as well as men had the ability to reason, and subsequently they should not be treated so poorly: "If all Men are born Free, why are all Women born Slaves?"

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5 stars
31 (20%)
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57 (37%)
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46 (30%)
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16 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Michael.
264 reviews52 followers
July 27, 2020

This book should really be better known. Astell was a powerful exponent of rationalist philosophy, and a caustic critic of her society's patriarchal education system. Part 1 makes a series of arguments in favour of a women's college. Part 2 broadens the focus: Astell offers a complete philosophy of mind, logic, rhetoric and theory of education, in an effort to demonstrate that conventional expectations of women's thought and education falsified their human intelligence. Astell writes clearly and concisely, and seasons her prose with amusingly sarcastic jabs at her opponents.

Readers who are acquainted with more recent feminist theory may find aspects of Astell's approach a bit bizarre. She was a staunch Anglican and Tory, and does not promote any thoroughgoing legal reforms. She goes so far as to say that she doesn't oppose any legal privilege currently enjoyed by men over women. All the solace Astell can offer to women is that if they follow her advice, they might become wiser and more able to bear the inequities of life. Nonetheless, she insists on the intellectual equality of men and women, and demonstrates it through her vivid prose and rigorous reasoning.

Profile Image for Mandy.
51 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2009
This lady is absolutely amazing. She was waaaaay ahead of her time. Even though I am not religious at all and she is very religious, what she has to stay still rings true. A good read for anyone interested in any type of feminism... as long as you remember that she wrote in the 17th century and is NOT a feminist AT ALL if you expect her to live up to the modern definition of the word.
Profile Image for Bárbara Banks.
5 reviews
February 8, 2017
Read it in a compilation with "Some reflexiona upon Marriage" and it redefined my ideals of feminism and how contemporary this women was. One of the worthiest books I've ever read on feminism.
Profile Image for Faith.
84 reviews
October 7, 2024
A decently interesting historical artefact. Astell was known for being a proto-feminist of sorts, and Part I of this book is amusing in that it demonstrates to almost a comical extent her dislike of men (she calls them 'worthless' and 'insignificant' multiple times). She thinks that women's souls / their inner beauties are wastefully decaying as they place undue focus on external beauty / material things, like their appearances and clothes. Instead, they should read philosophy, such as the works of Descartes.

Despite this seeming slightly hyperbolic, I really do find Astell to be ahead of her time. Women are still losing valuable parts of themselves to vie for the attention of men until today, and this hasn't changed from the era of Simone de Beauvoir to the current era of Kim K and Addison Rae. I also like that she uniquely used her version of Cartesian dualism to argue for women's education - although women and men are different in body (as was the preeminent view of the time), they have the same soul and capacity for reason. It's education that develops this capacity for reason to different actualizing degrees.

Part II is where she goes into 'how' to live the good life in her view. Chapter 3 has some interesting metaphysical points where she goes into Cartesian dualism and even veers into the realm of Kant. She is pretty religious (to say the least) and spends sometime going on about how we should trust God's purposes. I don't really think she makes super strong arguments (a lot of it is just "trust me") but maybe that feeling will dissipate upon a more charitable reading. There is also a portion on what makes good writing, which I kind of ignored because she tends to repeat herself a lot.

Profile Image for Kloky.
92 reviews
July 6, 2021
The essay itself is 4/5 while it was repetitive and rambled on at times as whole and with its influence on women's right I have no right to give it less. The rambling si excused due to the essays age (texts from around the same time usually have the same rambling style) and that she only put a few hours into creating this radical essay.

I appreciate the editor putting together a lot of information about Astell and her surroundings it went a bit over board with quite useless information not needed to the average reader or beginner student for wich this edition is for (she described her editorial note as for her students with no prior knowledge on Astells works). This nitty gritty of names not embedded in the avarege literary student and common man is unnecasarry, jarring and a lot of it could be left out. When your explanation about an essay is almost as long as the essay itsel you are doing something wrong (p. 96 had 4/5 of the page covered in small shrift editorial not that I found no real use of)
So the editors note get a 2/5.

A plus is her inclusion of dictionary definitions of words and concepts that actually help the average reader.

My final rating is therefore 3/5
Profile Image for Julia Johnson.
18 reviews2 followers
October 6, 2024
Powerful and chalked full of smart jabs at adversaries. Astell exhibits serious ambition with her philosophy: an agenda for the women of the 17th century, so they might better bear the unfairness of the world. She does not entirely blame men for women's estrangement from their own minds, but rather illustrates the ills of society at large for spoiling the fruitful soils for women to flourish. Astell points to many of the frivolities of women which I too well understand. Her criticism is not of malice, but of wishing the best for her fellow women. She promotes a temporary retirement from society, to heal and restore a relationship to truth–God–and a fruitful return to women's rightful place, in the home.
Profile Image for Justin.
115 reviews1 follower
January 7, 2018
Not sure what good the editorial footnotes do, especially since Astell herself disapproves of sending her reader continuously to the dictionary.
Profile Image for Claire.
208 reviews39 followers
March 5, 2023
I did not expect to have such a horrendous experience reading this, but I did. I really, truly did.
Profile Image for Dana.
430 reviews28 followers
July 13, 2016
This was a very interesting read. It is a compilation of, primarily, two essays directed at the women of the Restoration and Revolution period in London, England. While it mainly speaks to women to be more free in their religions, it also talks about women's political freedoms. This seems to be an early feminist essay which calls to give women more power over their lives.

I did enjoy the first essay more than I did the second because the second got a lot more religious and quite repetitive. But it was still interesting.

If you are interested in early feminist lit or in religious literature, check this book out. I think you would thoroughly enjoy it.
Profile Image for Joe.
Author 23 books98 followers
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October 7, 2013
Thinking about this as the roots of practical feminist utopias. As opposed to Cavendish's critical/symbolic ones. Either way, it seems like an essential read for anyone interested in early feminist rhetoric and ideals.
Profile Image for Jade.
56 reviews
August 31, 2012
Hilarious, witty, slightly snarky, and courageous.
Profile Image for Julia Allen.
29 reviews
September 16, 2016
Had never read this & found it fascinating. A very early feminist argument. The editor's commentary was helpful in placing the book in its historical context.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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