Notes on the Querelle des femmes in Eighteenth-Century Portugal

Abstract:This article aims to draw attention to the presence in Portugal of themes and arguments related to the debate that became known as the ‘Querelle des femmes (the women's question). It examines the discourses in circulation in Portuguese culture during the modern period, with reference to the types of text, the matters being contested, and the means used to pursue the discussion. It concludes that the debate is barely visible prior to the eighteenth century, but from that time publications multiply in the ambit of the ‘chapbooks, generating key moments in the attempts by women to participate in the public sphere.