Introduction

This introduction sets out the conceptual framework within which the volume is conceived. It aims to outline the importance of developing the history of equality as an intellectual category within the history of political thought, and to situate “the woman question” within that history, arguing for the centrality of the debate regarding sexual inequality to the organisation of society in the early modern period. It also sets out to theorise the understanding of the very notion of equality as it is being used here, namely as it pertains to the early modern period, and to demonstrate how the eleven chapters shape that understanding.