This edited collection showcases the contribution of women to the development of political ideas during the Enlightenment, and presents an alternative to the male-authored canon of philosophy and political thought. Recently, considerable scholarly attention has been paid to women's literary writing and their role in salon society, but their participation in political debates is less well studied. This volume offers new perspectives on some better known authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Catharine Macaulay and Anna Laetitia Barbauld, as well as neglected figures from the British Isles and continental Europe.

Lisa Curtis-Wendlandt is an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University. Paul Gibbard is an Assistant Professor of French at The University of Western Australia. Karen Green is an Associate Professor in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University.

Introduction; Part I Women's Political Ideas in Continental Europe; Chapter 1 Emilie Du Châtelet's Views on the Pillars of French Society, Judith P.Zinsser; Chapter 2 Royalist and Radical, PaulGibbard; Chapter 3 Performing Citizenship, FeliciaGordon; Chapter 4 Etta Palm d'Aelders and Louise Keralio-Robert, CalogeroAlberto Petix, KarenGreen; Chapter 5 Marie-Armande Gacon-Dufour, Erica J.Mannucci; Chapter 6 Legality and Morality in the Political Thought of Elise Reimarus and Immanuel Kant, LisaCurtis-Wendlandt; Chapter 7 Italian Women Intellectuals and Their Cultural Networks, MariannaD'Ezio; Chapter 8 Women's Intellectual Agency in the History of Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century French Salons, StevenKale; Part II Women's Political Ideas in the British Isles; Chapter 9 The Right to Resist, Elizabeth M.K.A.Sund; Chapter 10 Catharine Macaulay and Laetitia Barbauld, KarenGreen; Chapter 11 'The Manly Virtues', MaryCaputi; Chapter 12 Between Enlightenment, Feminism, and Abolitionism, JeanetteEhrmann; Chapter 13 'Doing an Acceptable Service to my Country', LesaNí Mhunghaile;