Wednesday 25th-Saturday 28th June 2025
Monte Verità, Ascona (Switzerland)
Keynote speakers:
Astrid Dröse (Universität Tübingen), Sarah Richardson (University of Glasgow),
Ritchie Robertson (University of Oxford)
‘Women it is said have no business with politics.—Why not?’ (Charlotte Smith, Desmond (1792))
‘Demandons des Représentantes à l’Assemblée Nationale.’ (Étrennes Nationales des Dames (1789))
‘Die Weiber, nicht für öffentliche Ämter bestimmt sind.’ (Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Grundlage des
Naturrechts (1796))
Debates about women and politics raged across Europe throughout the eighteenth
century. Although women were denied direct political representation, scholars have shown that
women were actively involved in the world of eighteenth-century politics. Far from being
unconcerned with contemporary politics, women attended public events such as the trial of
Warren Hastings (1787-1795) and debates at the Houses of Parliament in great numbers, facilitated
political discussions in salons across the continent, and were key figures in political campaigns such
as the 1784 Westminster election. In the wake of the French Revolution, women campaigned for
active citizenship, as Olympe de Gouges demanded in Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne
(1782). Women were also instrumental in promoting abolition campaigns and reform movements.
As monarchs, empresses, queen consorts, and courtiers, women across Europe exercised political
power and authority through official and non-official channels.
‘Feminist Enlightenment and Politics / Feministische Aufklärung und Politik’ is an
international and interdisciplinary conference which examines the role and presence of women in
eighteenth-century political debates across Europe. The conference brings together researchers
specialising in the long eighteenth century across Europe from the fields of literature, history,
philosophy, politics, and legal studies. It is part of the international project Feminist Enlightenment across Europe. (https://feministenlightenment.eu/en/ ). The conference is a bilingual event
(English and German). We also welcome papers in other languages (French and Italian) and will
offer to translate papers.
We will consider the following research questions, among others:
• What constitutes the political subject in Enlightenment Europe?
• How did the law influence debates about married and unmarried women and active
citizenship?
• Which media helped circulate women’s political thinking and participation?
• Which forms of politics sought to achieve gender equality, and which actively sought to
prevent it?
• How did class, religion, and race intersect with reflections on (gender) equality?
• What tactics were developed after the Rousseau-like attack on the postulate of equality
designed in the early Enlightenment?
• How does the question of nation intersect with the universal impetus of Enlightenment
norms?
We invite abstracts for 20-minute papers focusing on the conference theme. Topics may
include but are not limited to:
• Debating societies;
• Women at court;
• Wives in the diplomatic world;
• Political theory from the perspectives of gender and race;
• The role of literature in political discourse;
• Networks of correspondence and sociability;
• Women and political practice;
• Politics and material culture;
• Women and local politics
• New approaches to teaching and researching gender and politics in the long eighteenth
century
Please send a 250 to 500-word abstract in the language of your choice and a short
biographical note to Anne-Claire Michoux (anne-claire.michoux@es.uzh.ch) by 1st April 2025.
Proposals are welcomed from scholars at all career stages. Acceptance will be communicated in
late March.
The conference will be held in the beautiful historical Monte Verità cultural centre,
overlooking Lake Maggiore and the Alps. We have secured subsidised accommodation rates.
Bursaries towards accommodation costs will be available.
Conference organisers: Anne-Claire Michoux (University of Zurich); Gideon Stiening (LMU
München)