Feminism has always engaged with the practice of history. Accounting for the present situation of women involves scrutiny of the past. Interpretations of both ancient and more recent history have under­ pinned many important works of feminist theory, polemic and literature. The claim that the demise of organic views of nature in favour of mechanical and scientific views facilitated the emergence of a capitalist social order in which women were uniquely subordinated to men pervaded feminist writing from the seventeenth century onwards (Merchant, 1980 :157-63). A further goal of feminist interest in women’s historical experience has been to establish that patriarchal relations are not natural and inevitable, but contingent and change­ able (Davin, 1971:224).