Marie le jars de Gournay and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz are both philosophers, writers, translators, poets, and two of the first early modern feminists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, though the Sor Juana was born a few years after Gournay passed away. Sor Juana lived in Mexico City whereas Gournay spent her days living in France and both women challenged the status quo by arguing for the equality of the sexes and especially for the right of women to be educated.
Sor Juana began her life as a nun in 1667 with the intention of being able to dedicate her life not only to God, but also to studying and writing in her free time (Biography, 2020). Similarly, Gournay lived on her own, but instead, financially supported herself through her editions and translations for others. Sor Juana had an early passion for learning, as she spent her childhood self-teaching as it was frowned upon for girls to be educated, just as it was in 16th century Europe for Gournay. In fact, even when Sor Juana was punished for reading and told not to study for three months, she found ways to study “all the things God created, and these were [her] letters, and [her] book was the entire mechanism of the universe” (Sor Juana, 1691). In Gournay’s youth, she also relied on self-teaching through reading and both women taught themselves different languages in the process.
Both philosophers wrote extensively about the equality of the sexes, which sometimes included publicly refuting the men within their respective societies. One of Sor Juana’s most famous poems, “Hombres necios” (“Foolish Men”) accused men of behaving illogically when they criticized women based on the inconsistencies in their actions. For instance, Sor Juana writes, “Foolish men who accuse women without reason, without seeing that you are the occasion of the same thing that you blame: if with unequaled eagerness you request their disdain, why do you want them to do good if you incite them to evil?” (Sor Juana, 1689). Gournay also offers a satirical scorn toward men and their behavior in society in The Ladies’ Complaint when she writes, “[Men] have been known who had absolute contempt for the works of women, without stooping to amuse themselves by reading them, so as to know what stuff they were made of, or to accept opinions or advice that they might encounter in them, and without first wishing to be informed if they themselves could produce some that would merit reading by all sorts of women” (Gournay, 1641). While Sor Juana is referring more to a general inconsistency in man’s logic and Gournay is referring specifically to men’s critique of the learned woman here, both are highlighting that men fall short in their arguments against women sharing equal rights to men.
Both women had a passion for the power of knowledge and used biblical references to demonstrate this. Sor Juana defends her right to knowledge through God; that he chooses which men women are favored to study, while arguing that knowledge in the wrong hands can lead to immense and irresponsible forms of power, “placing swords in the hands of madmen” (Sor Juana, 1691). She makes the argument that without logic, natural science, geometry, and history, how is one to fully understand how the Holy Scripture is written, the meaning behind animal sacrifices, the measurements of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the Historical books, respectively? (Lehmann, 1995). With a proper education, Sor Juana argues that she will enhance her ability to reach God and because she cannot help herself but to obtain wisdom, that God must have chosen her to be an intellect. Gournay, on the other hand, specifically addresses the counter arguments in The Equality of Men and Women by using God’s words against them. She proclaims, “…God declares, ‘The two shall be but one,’ and then declares, ‘The man shall leave mother and father and give himself to his wife,’ it appears that this declaration of the gospel is made solely for the express need of fostering peace in marriage…. that submission was imposed on woman in punishment for the sin of eating the apple, that still hardly constitutes a decisive pronouncement in favor of the supposed superior worth of man” (Sor Juana, 1691). Gournay uses this in her argument for equality that men and women share the same rational soul, as God even states himself.
Sor Juana maintains that understanding and wisdom are the greatest honors humans can hold, education should be for and by women, particularly in the hands of elder women (Sor Juana, 1691). She stated that it would be dangerous to put the role in the hands of men, as it would leave young girls susceptible to man’s control and potential violence. Instead, older women can offer their wisdom, guidance, and experience from those that the young girls can more likely relate to. Additionally, Sor Juana made it a point that, even while acknowledging that she herself does not have the capacity to teach, knowledge does not make a woman weak (Sor Juana, 1691). Gournay, while agreeing with the latter fact, does not seem to make the distinction of some being more worthy than others of obtaining an education, and more focuses her argument on the general ability and right for women to learn.
Overall, Gournay and Sor Juana share overlapping themes both in their lives and their arguments for equality and women’s right to education, both battling societal oppression in the process. Since Sor Juana was a nun, her arguments centered largely around God’s influence, but she strived not to let backlashes from her occupation get in the way of her journey to wisdom. Unfortunately, for reasons that remain unknown, Sor Juana signed a declaration of faith which made her give up her secular studies just two years after her Response of the Poet to Sor Filotea (Merrim, 2021). She lived to be about half the age of Gournay, who continued with her work, essentially, within her own free will.
References
Biography.com Editors. (2020, July 09). Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/writer/sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz
Gournay, M. (1641). The Ladies’ Complaint.
Lehmann, C. (1995). Women’s right to education: From Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz to Beijing. Canadian Woman Studies, 15(2/3), 156-158.
Merrim, S. (2021, April 13). Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sor-Juana-Ines-de-la-Cruz
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. (1689) Hombres Necios.
Sor Juana de la Cruz. (1691). Response of the Poet to Sor Filotea.
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