I tried looking for an audio file, but couldn't find one...this is a youTube link to a music video from a band called Space and the title of the song is "female of the species." It certainly doesn't have anything to do with philosophy, but definitely touches on the impression that women have on life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-wIvsZBFhQ

I think that one of the most impressive women around is Maya Angelou. She may not fall into the category of philosopher, but certainly makes profound arguments for empowerment of women. Historically, women's credits tend to fall by the wayside and seemingly rise only during research in women's studies, but the impact that women have on history and society should be more widely recognized. Maya Angelou wrote the following poem in favor of women's empowerment called "Phenomenal Woman". The poem may be found at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phenomenal-woman/.

Female Philosophers: Lady Ann Conway (1614-1687) was a female philosopher from the 17th century who was able to publish one paper, though only published anonymously and after her death. The paper was entitled, Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/conway/ The following article talks about the feminist perspective in researching philosophy with the “Western philosophical tradition.” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-femhist/ This essay talks about the struggles that women had to overcome in order to earn their rightful place in the annals of philosophy and goes into detail about the following three: Luisa Sigea, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Tullia d'Aragona. Luisa Sigea (c. 1522-1560) Spanish born scholar who served in the Portuguese royal court as Latin language tutor to the Infanta. According to the author, Sigea contributed to the political and moral genre. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) Former courtesan, turned Mexican nun contributed to the field by writing a manual on logic and a “lengthy epistemological poem on the search for knowledge and its limitations in this world…,” as well as several other works. Tullia d’Aragona (c. 1510-1556) She too was a courtesan who produced a work entitled Dialogo della infinita d'amore (Dialogue on the infinity of love) that at the time was considered a highly radical work. A brief excerpt from the essay: “Before women could become visible as philosophers, they had first to become visible as rational autonomous thinkers. A social and ethical position holding that chastity was the most important virtue for women, and that rationality and chastity were incompatible, was a significant impediment to accepting women's capacity for philosophical thought. Thus one of the first tasks for women was to confront this belief and argue for their rationality in the face of a self-referential dilemma. Gibson, Joan. "The logic of chastity: women, sex, and the history of philosophy in the early modern period." Hypatia 21.4 (Fall 2006): 1(19). General OneFile. Gale. Peninsula Library System. 18 Feb. 2008
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