Which Inspiring Woman Are You?

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You are Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986) was a French writer and philosopher who scandalised 1950s Western society with her profound analysis of women’s oppression, “The Second Sex”. The book became a cornerstone of the feminist movement in the 1970s, and remains controversial today. In it De Beauvoir argues that women have historically been considered as deviant from a masculine norm – they are always defined in relation to men as “the Other”, and this has limited what women can achieve. As an existentialist, De Beauvoir believed that women are as capable as men of free choice, and that they must use this freedom to transcend the role of the Other that they are cast in.

Simone de Beauvoir studied philosophy and mathematics in Paris, where she met Jean-Paul Sartre, who became her lifelong companion. They had an unconventional, sexually open but devoted relationship until he died in 1980. De Beauvoir became more politically active in later life, particularly around women’s rights, and died in 1986. Her funeral was attended by thousands, and the newspaper headlines read: “Women, you owe her everything!”

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