A detailed panorama of women's lives in the context of work, marriage and family, from different angles of discussions - sometimes comic, sometimes sarcastic - conducted in a variety of forms: personal letters, art, philosophy, science and medicine. Resisting repressive practices, restrictive legislation, and lengthy debates about women's “nature,” women took the initiative through both subtle maneuvers and open dissent. In conformity and public resistance, in representation and social reality, women are represented in these pages in remarkable diversity. CONTENTS: PART I. POLITICAL FRACTURE AND THE NEW ORDER OF DISCOURSE Defining the Essence of Womanhood 71. Daughters of Liberty and Citizens of the Revolution 102. The French Revolution as a Turning Point 283. History philosophies of sexual differences 444. Legal contradictions 78PART II THE CREATION OF WOMEN, REALITY AND IMAGINATIONWomen as creators and creatures 1175. Idolatry in art and literature 1216. Reading and writing in Germany 1437. Catholic model 1678. Protestant 2039. The creation of the modern Jewish woman 21810. Secular model female education 23611. Images - appearance, leisure and everyday life 25412. Representations of women 271PART III. WOMAN CITIZEN: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE Family is women's work 28713. Bodies and hearts 29114. Dangerous sexuality 34215. Woman worker 37516. Single women 403PART IV. FEATURES OF MODERNITYThe great enterprise of feminism 42317. A step forward 42618. Images of feminism 46419. New Eve and the old Adam 503 PART V. WOMEN'S VOICES • On women's happiness 523 • Germaine de Stael. “About women who devoted themselves to literature” 523 • Lou Andreas-Salome. “Woman’s Humanity” 527