La femme nouvelle

Abstract

“The New Woman” is an unpublished translation of “Die neue Frau”—a text which the German sociologist, Marianne Weber, wrote shortly before 1914. It constitutes an answer to Georg Simmel’s theses on women, published in La mode. Marianne Weber bases her whole argument, which is Kantian in inspiration, on the equality of all human persons. Her first demand was for women’s issues to be moved from the private sphere and domestic space by opening access to the political sphere and public space. The modern woman is capable of solidarity and creating a community. She is capable of the moral autonomy which she can only achieve through full participation in the outside world and public life.

Keywords

• equality
• new woman
• the question of women
• women’s rights
• Marianne Weber
• Georg Simmel