In 2025, we celebrate ten years of collaboration between Ruth Hagengruber, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, and the renowned Australian philosopher Karen Green.

“Our next focus will be on cooperation in the field of women philosophers in economics and the social sciences,” says Hagengruber. “While in some parts of the world the struggle for gender equality has once again become a political issue and is being used as a weapon of war, in other parts of the world people are convinced that a country’s and society’s productivity increases with the participation of women.”

Green’s investigations into the history of women’s political thought in Europe, from the 15th to the 18th century, have revealed a rich tradition of resistance against masculinist political attitudes that deny women political and intellectual authority. She has demonstrated the close connection between critiques of the arbitrary domination of women in marriage and critiques of the arbitrary domination of citizens in the state. In doing so, she has shown that the distinctiveness of the European political tradition lies just as much in the underrecognized contributions of women—from Christine de Pizan, Marie de Gournay, and Madeleine de Scudéry, to Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft—as it does in the well-documented legacy of Locke and Kant.

Further cooperation and research are planned, with a likely focus on women’s engagement in politics and political economy during the 19th century. Since our first collaboration on the history of women’s ideas, the history of women philosophers has become an established field of research and teaching at universities worldwide and is increasingly being used as a resource for political decision-making.

The Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists was founded in 2016 by Ruth Hagengruber and enjoys international recognition.