The gender politics of ‘bluestocking philosophy’

This chapter discusses the gender politics of ‘bluestocking philosophy’. The idea of a single, unified conceptualization of what constituted a bluestocking and what was understood as a bluestocking philosophy is somewhat misleading, as the idea of a single voice emerging from this group is almost a contradiction in terms. What can be identified is who made up the bluestocking circles and what they aspired to be and to do. Elizabeth Montagu was a central figure in the development of bluestocking circles and, along with Elizabeth Vesey and Frances Boscawen, helped to forge a public identity for women public intellectuals through Montagu's own scholarship as well as her support for other women writers. The early bluestocking circles were not established as a vehicle for promoting equity or women's rights, or even rights of citizenship. However, they played an important role in the second half of the 18th century in entrenching cultural and social transformation into the social system. In addition, they ‘played a crucial role in a widening and defining of women's social roles in the eighteenth century’.

Contemporary women public intellectuals: the United States (1)

This chapter assesses three high-profile women public intellectuals in the US: Condoleezza Rice, Samantha Power, and Susan Rice. All of these three women public intellectuals are significant role models for women wanting to move from academic positions into different administrations. While the contribution and legacy of Condoleezza Rice is a mixed one, no one can detract from her contribution and achievements as an African-American academic woman and public intellectual. Condoleezza Rice can take credit for a number of policy successes, including the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Libya and progress in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Meanwhile, one of the most interesting aspects of Power's career is the contrast between her ardour as an activist and her duties as an adviser. Finally, Susan Rice was highly effective in her role as national security adviser and oversaw the coordination of intelligence and military efforts during a period that was marked by an escalation of the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Middle East, the crisis in Syria, and increased aggression from Russia.

The role of social movements leading to the emergence of women public intellectuals

This chapter addresses the significance of social movements in accelerating women into the public sphere as public intellectuals. Indeed, the role of social movements was important in defining women public intellectuals politically. The growth of social movements has to be set alongside the expansion of higher education for women, as well as the expansion of the print industry. This led to an expansion and broadening of the base of women's participation in political activity, particularly around specific campaigns and causes. Women were actively involved, individually and collectively, in a number of campaigns prior to the emergence of the suffrage movement. Ultimately, the intersection of gender and class was an important factor leading to the growth of both political activism and, more specifically, the emergence of the suffragettes and later women's liberation movement (WLM). Analysis shows that the motivation of most women was pragmatic and issue based as opposed to ideological. Issue-based politics covered all social classes and thus brought women together in social activism and within social movements.

‘Uncompromising politics’: Mary Wollstonecraft and Catherine Macaulay

This chapter focuses on Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft, which are considered to be the two most important women writers on politics and society in late 18th-century England. Both were instrumental in the development of feminist political thought and by the 1790s, ‘Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft had achieved a kind of political articulacy and a degree of public audibility that are central to the emergence of modern feminist politics in Britain’. This was not seen as an area that women should comment on. Both Macaulay and Wollstonecraft showed that women as public intellectuals could defend republican political principles. In addition, both contributed to debates on education and both believed in the same education for women and men. Wollstonecraft argues that the education of women should be about giving them more independence. Similarly, Wollstonecraft maintained that women should work and become independent. As such, Wollstonecraft's feminism can be located in a general trend towards sexual liberation.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter summarises the exploration of the relationship between women, political discourse, and political representation in the previous chapters. It argues that there are of course successful women public intellectuals in Europe, the UK, and other parts of the world. However, very few countries show the same profile of success in gender politics that the US does, and the public intellectuals outlined here have profiles that stand independently of the administrations they served. Many of these women could easily have stood for election as president in the US; Hillary Clinton, of course, did stand. Many wanted Condoleezza Rice to run as president; Elizabeth Warren may yet run in the 2020 election. In other cases, Susan Rice may stand for the Senate. Ultimately, the contemporary women public intellectuals profiled in this book offer outstanding models of women public intellectuals, but there is still much more to achieve.

Contemporary women public intellectuals: the United States (2)

This chapter studies how Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, and Sheryl Sandberg fared as women public intellectuals in the context of contemporary political and corporate life. Elizabeth Warren used her economic stance as a major part of her focus on her Senate campaign and she has also been influential in her contribution to debates on affordable health-care and college debt. Warren's reputation has been built on her role as a ‘progressive fighter’ and comes from her track record of opposition to Donald Trump, which goes back to before his presidency. Meanwhile, Sheryl Sandberg is a bestselling author and her books and the controversy surrounding them have framed her contribution and legacy. Unlike other women public intellectuals with distinct academic careers and hugely successful publications, Sandberg does not write as an academic, but as a corporate thinker who is interested in the advancement of women in corporate life. Finally, Hillary Clinton is probably the most famous woman public intellectual on the planet. She has come closest to breaking the ‘glass ceiling’ in US politics and has provided signposts for women, both positive and negative, about what it means to be a woman at the highest levels of the public sphere.

Women writers: setting the terms of the debate

This chapter explores the idea of the bluestockings and other women writers and how they were partially enfranchised by the expansion of print culture in the 18th century. Many of the bluestockings were published writers. Indeed, Elizabeth Montagu and Elizabeth Carter showed that women could succeed in areas traditionally defined as areas where men excelled. Regardless of the success of these women writers — and probably as a result of it — at the start of the 19th century, the combined social and intellectual prominence of so many intelligent women was responded to with both resentment and disgust by many men. Nevertheless, the establishment of a recognized and significant presence of women in the ‘world of letters’ paved the way for a wide range of social and political commentary from women writers such as Jane Austen, George Eliot, and, later, Virginia Woolf.

Gender and the politics of the public sphere

This chapter examines the relationship between gender and the politics of the public sphere. The bluestockings were instrumental in framing a set of literary and political discourses that opened the door for a range of political movements where women occupied leading positions, including the Bloomsbury Group and the suffrage movement. The chapter then distinguishes between two forms of public sphere. The first is the world of letters, where ‘privatized individuals in their capacity as human beings communicated through critical debate’. The second form is the political realm, where ‘private people in their capacity as owners of commodities communicated through rational-critical debate’. Despite the significance of women writers within the public sphere through elite groupings such as the bluestockings, their role was still limited. While the bluestockings were actively involved in literary and political debates, their distance from the political sphere highlights the gendered character of the 18th-century public sphere.