An Essay In Defence Of The Female Sex

Judith Drake's essay was first published anonymously in 1696. In her preface, Drake openly mocks the inclusion by her publisher of an engraving and accompanying couplet “The Compleat Beau,” depicting a well-powdered man preening in his mirror with the assistance of what Drake calls “an unlucky Rogue of a left-handed Barber, that looks like an ill Omen,” and assures her readers that she actively sought its exclusion. The second edition shared a cover with A Farther Essay Relating to the Female-Sex, an unattributed translation of the 1694 French work Les différens caractères des femmes du siècle by Madame de Pringy. Though it follows a similar style to Drake's work in presenting archetypal characters to highlight human failings, it is by no means a feminist tract as it advocates mainly for the correction of improper behaviour in women. The third edition, which serves as the basis for this transcription, excludes de Pringy's work and adds a letter from “J. D.”, probably Drake's husband James, who indicates that he is often accused of being the true author of the work, an act of malice that he considers an inadvertent honour, but which he denies in mocking both Symson and his publisher: “I have known men (and so I fancy have you too) and those of no mean Reputation, that have affected to look grave and compos'd at the Repetition of another Man's Jest, that it might be taken for their own; and, to say truth, if the World will mistake Men for greater, or Wiser, than they are, there are few that have Ingenuity enough not to help on the Cheat.” A fourth edition was printed in 1721. (Karen, 66-78)

According to Drake's preface, the work was purportedly written at the request of one of her friends, following a group discussion on the topic. Amongst Drake's friends was Mary Astell, who had published the first part of A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest in 1694, advocating for educational reforms for women, so Astell has sometimes been credited as the author of An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex. However, a reading of James Drake's poem and letter to the author, and her reply seem to render Judith Drake's anonymity translucent at best.

The substance of Drake's argument is that women are constantly held inferior to men due to their intellectual and moral shortcomings. She begins by stating that, if true, it must be due either to some natural intellectual deficiency or an environmental disparity between women and men. She quickly dismisses the natural by observing no difference in the mental capacities of animals of either gender, nor in those of peasants where neither husbands nor wives have any educational advantage. She therefore determines that the crux of the question is whether the disparity between the educations allowed to women and men create any intellectual advantage for the men. (Karen, 66-78)

From here, she runs down the list of shortcomings ...