# The First Western Feminist

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/portraits-of-liberty/the-first-western-feminist>

**By** Paul Meany

**Published:** March 12, 2020

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In this episode, we explore the life of the medieval writer Christine De Pizan, who in her famous book the _City of Ladies_ debunked a long-standing tradition of misogyny.

Medieval feminism sounds like an oxymoron. The medieval ages inherited a caustic tradition of misogyny from the ancient world. The 15th-century writer Christine de Pizan argued in her work _The City of Ladies_ that the ideas of both her predecessors and contemporaries were delusional. Pizan explained the inherent equality between men and women. For Pizan, both sexes had a capacity for virtue, and both ought to be educated in the same manner.  


## Further Reading:

[Feminism and Women's Rights](https://www.libertarianism.org/encyclopedia/feminism-womens-rights)

[Libertarian Feminism: An Honorable Tradition](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/libertarian-feminism-honorable-tradition), written by Sharon Presley

[Feminism Does Not Demand Collectivism](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/feminism-does-not-demand-collectivism), written by Elizabeth Nolan Brown