Being deprived of political rights for most of world history, women tried to contribute to political theory and philosophy as soon as they could find themselves pen, paper, and free time from making the world spin around. Furthermore, institutional political philosophy often ignored the private sphere and civil society, which were the very areas where women spent much of their lives. For this reason, these five ladies in political philosophy thought that the fight was far from over. This, in turn, inspired their scholarly publications and political activism.

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1. Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum (1947-) is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago and the author of 21 books. Her readership extends way beyond the walls of academia. Her area of expertise ranges from Greek and Roman philosophy and literature to political and legal philosophy, as well as the theory of emotions. Nussbaum wrote a doctoral dissertation on Aristotle at Harvard in 1975 but previously gained a strong background in classical philology at New York University during her undergraduate studies. She received the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy in 2016, the Berggruen Prize in 2018, and the Holberg Prize in 2021. Nussbaum is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Finland, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. She disagreed with and argued against several influential philosophers like Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, Susan Moller Okin, and John Rawls, among others.

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