Marie De Gournay

To give further depth to our understanding of Gabrielle Suchon, I would like to compare her and her works to another, better known French philosopher of the time period, Marie De Gournay. Marie De Gournay was born on October 6th, 1565, to mother Jeanne de Hacqueville and father Guillaume Le Jars in Paris, France. Her father was treasurer to King Henry Ⅲ, her mother from a family of jurist, and to both her maternal and paternal family ancestry belonged a short line of writers. Much like Gabrielle Suchon, Gournay was self educated, though she studied the humanities and learned Latin, while Suchon familiarized herself more with holy scriptures as well as classic and contemporary philosophers. Both women were writers and philosophers, and both women-though Suchon more so-had experience teaching children, however Gournay was an employed writer in a much more extensive manner than Suchon ever was. Having published over 1,000 combined pages throughout her works, Gournay was a writer and translator employed by several throughout her life, most notably Queen Margo and King Henry Ⅳ. In her time, Marie De Gournay was a decently well-known writer, differing from Suchon who, though still prominent during her time, was lesser known than her predecessor. Both women earned notable titles through their work, Gournay being the first woman in France to contribute to literary criticism along with being of the first female philosophers, and of those, one of the first to argue the equality of men and women. Suchon, while still considered to be one of the first female philosophers to do the same, was also the first philosopher to completely condemn marriage and discuss celibacy. More notably, however, Gabrielle Suchon is also given the distinction of being the very first known philosopher to specify her target audience as women, rather than men. 
Now, in comparing the two, it is important to discuss the similarities between the contents of their works. Both philosophers were known as prefeminist figures, both arguing the equality of men and women, and both advocating for a woman’s right to education. Both Gournay and Suchon agreed that women were unfairly viewed as less intelligent, less capable of self governance, and were deprived of sovereignty because they were not given access to education or public duties. Both women agree that if given the opportunity to participate in intellectual life, as well as public duties, women would prove that they are just as capable of learning, intellect, and complex thought as men. Both Suchon and Gournay believed, much like Descartes, in the separation of mind and body, and agreed that God created men and women both with free and rational minds. "The virtue of men and virtue of women are the same thing, since God bestowed on them the same creation and the same honor” (Marie De Gournay,  Égalité des Hommes et des Femmes). Both women were also notable participants in the Querelles Des Femmes, especially considering that both Suchon and Gournay employed unique argumentative tactics, previously unseen from female participants in the debates. While suchon was the first to write a treatise, employing an argumentative and authoritative writing style, Gournay is considered to have written the first philosophical response to the suggestion of the inferiority of women in the debate. Gournay used reductio arguments, and, similarly to Gabrielle Suchon, used evidence from holy scripture and cited the work of ancient philosophers to support her argument of the equality of women, and to discredit the claim that they are inferior to men. Both women were considered radicals, and both were met with the disdain of men who believed in and wished to uphold the patriarchal social norms of the time.
Now, to discuss how the philosophers differ, I’d like to refer to the content of their works beyond just their views on equality and women’s education. In Marie De Gournay’s Grief des Dames, Gournay famously  begins with “Lucky are you, reader, if you happen not to be of that sex to whom it is forbidden all good things; to whom liberty is denied; to whom almost all virtues are denied’ lucky are you if you are one of those who can be wise without its being a crime.” I bring attention to this quote specifically because it perfectly encompasses the main difference between Gournay and Suchon. This quote is the beginning of a work that in no way addresses or supposes a solution to the very problem that Gournay spends offering detailed complaints about (hence the title of the work). Gabrielle Suchon, however, spends little time in her writings focusing on the details of the negative aspects of being a woman in the time period, and rather than offering complaints about the oppression and belittlement of women, Suchon dedicates the majority of her work to offering ideas and solutions to rectify women’s educational (and general) inequality. I will grant that while Marie De Gournay’s works were not solely based on this issue as Gabrielle Suchon's certainly were, however, this is a key difference between the general attitudes seen throughout their writing. I’d like to bring attention to a quote from the preface of Gabrielle Suchon’s Traité de la morale et de la politique, “My sole intention in this entire treatise has been to inspire generosity and magnanimity in persons of the sex so that they can protect themselves against servile constraint, stupid ignorance, and base and degrading dependence." What I’d like to be taken from the comparison of these two quotes is the distinction between Gournay’s bitter, resentful tone and Suchon’s focus on inspiring change, and invoking strategies to protect women of the time from the suppression at hand. This difference is prevalent throughout the feminist works of both women, especially in regards to their attitudes towards men. Gournay is resentful, and discusses in great length the mechanisms by which men suppress female thoughts and ideas on an individual and conversational level. She spends time going into detail why women’s participation in debates is often ignored and trivialized, and heavily insinuates that attempting at fair intellectual play between women and men is overall ineffective. “Whoever is so stupid as to imagine God to be either masculine or feminine openly shows that he is as bad a philosopher as a theologian” (Marie De Gournay). It is clearly seen that Gournay’s focus is more on her anger towards the patriarchal social constraints of her time, and even goes so far as to choose to insult men and degrade their intellectual ability in return. Suchon, in contrast to Gournay, directs her negativity at the mere concepts and trends promoted by misogyny, ignorance, and depravity, rather than blaming the male sex for their shortcomings. Suchon writes, “To speak of all the bitter fruit it [privation] forces persons of the sex to taste would be a never-ending task." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)