Her Voice: Ladies who write

This podcast recounts the peculiar life and work of French playwright-turned-activist, Olympe de Gouges. We take a deeper look into her most famous work, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, which demanded gender equality in post-Revolution France.

This episode explores the life and work of pioneering African American writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. As a participant in the famous Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century Hurston’s literary work, including Their Eyes are Watching God and Mule Bone offer insight into issues that would later be known as intersectional feminism.

This episode explores the work of a 19th century Brazilian feminist who promoted the education of women in Brazil and who was active in anti-slavery campaigns of the period

This episode looks at the life of bell hooks and offers some commentary on her important work Ain’t I a Woman.

This episode explores the mysterious figure of Hypatia who is thought to be the first mathematician.

This episode explores the work of Kathryn Sophia Belle, a contemporary philosopher who has organised the Collegium of Black female philosophers, as a safe place for women philosophers of colour

This episode charts the contributions of the first woman chief justice of the Canadian Supreme Court, Beverly McLachlin, and offers insights from her recently published autobiography

This episode explores the life and presumed work and influence of Aspasia, companion to Pericles, in 5th century BCE Athens

This episode sketches the life and activism of notable 20th century anarchist Emma Goldmann

This episode offers an introduction to a staunch defender of women’s rights living in a time of great political upheaval in France through the revolution and into the early 19th century.

This episode celebrates the life and accomplishments of the American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

This episode offers a critical perspective on the life and contributions of Simone de Beauvoir, best known author of The Second Sex.

This episode is devoted to the life and work of the 18th century genius Emilie du Chatelet who edited a translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia explaining the basics of Newtonian mathematics to the French public. She also was an accomplished mathematician in her own right

This episode engages with the life and work of Hannah Arendt whose work has often been controversial for feminists. Hannah Arendt famously disputed calling herself a feminist even though she broke many barriers for women intellectuals in 20th century America. She is perhaps best known for her report on the Eichmann trial as well as her work The Human Condition.

This episode explores the life and work of 19th century Nigeria author Nana Asma’u who through her poetry offered women a vision of feminism compatible with Islamic piety under the Sokoto Caliphate.

This episode explores the life and work of the contemporary African American theorist Kimberle Crenshaw who coined the term ‘intersectionality’ allowing for deeper analysis of feminist issues in relation to marginalised communities.

This episode looks at the work of early 20th century American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, with special reference to her famous short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

This episode looks at the tumultuous life of twentieth century American feminist icon Angela Davis and discusses a couple of her works including Are Prison’s Obsolete? and Women, Rights and Class.

This episode explores the life and work of 17th century English thinker Mary Astell, best known for her promotion of women’s education in her work A Serious Proposal to the Ladies. She is sometimes called the first English feminist.

This episode offers an overview of the life, and what we know of the work, of the ancient thinker and early Cynic philosopher Hipparchia. She may be one of the first examples in the Western tradition of a woman who refuses to live according to established conventions in order to assert her autonomy.

This episode explores the life and work of the 20th century Lebanese fiction writer Emily Nasrallah, whose work addresses the concerns and particular suffering of women in the context of a society torn by civil war

This episode devoted to the life and work of Harriet Taylor Mill seeks to unpack the questions surrounding her influence on John Stuart Mill and of her radical defense for her day of women’s right to autonomy and political representation and suffrage rights.

This episode studies the life and work of the radical contemporary feminist Andrea Dworkin. She is perhaps best known for her critique of pornography and for establishing the Take Back the Night demonstrations.

This episode explores the life and work of May Ziadeh, an intellectual living in Cairo in the early twentieth century and who wrote such stories as Uncle Abu Hassan receives guests, and Women and work.

This is a series for those interested in learning more about women writers, intellectuals and activists, women who deserve to be known better than they are. Episodes of the podcast were written and presented by students at the University of Toronto enrolled in a course devoted to the study of women writers in the history of political thought. The podcast is inspired in part by Christine de Pizan’s Book of the City of Ladies (1405). The series is a means to create and extend a virtual pantheon of women who have made important contributions to the history of ideas, to feminism and to the welfare of humankind. Most of these episodes offer comparisons between the women who are the focus of the episode and other women writers studied in the course. Hopefully these introductions (each episode runs approx.. twenty minutes) will spark your curiosity and lead you to read more of their works and learn more about their lives and contributions.