让·雅克·卢梭被认为是启蒙运动的关键哲学家之一，他的著作揭示了他关注的是“男性平等”，但他肯定没有把女性平等作为自己的重点。卢梭生活在1712年至1778年间，对18世纪的知识分子思想产生了重大影响。他激发了导致法国大革命的政治行动主义，并影响了康德的伦理观，使之植根于人性。

他1762年的论文《教育论》和《社会契约》分别对教育和政治哲学产生了影响。卢梭的主要论点被概括为“人是善良的，但却被社会制度所腐蚀”。他还写道，“自然创造了快乐和善良的人，但社会使他堕落，使他痛苦。”然而，女性的经历并没有激发卢梭的这种沉思，基本上认为她们是弱者，满足于依赖男人。

卢梭矛盾的女性观

虽然卢梭经常因其关于人类平等的观点而受到赞扬，但现实是，他并不认为妇女应该享有平等。卢梭认为，女性需要依靠男性来获得幸福，因为男性不如女性理性。他认为，男性可能渴望女性，但不需要她们生存，而女性既渴望男性，也需要男性。在《埃米尔》中，他写到了他认为女性和男性在教育方面需要的不同。对卢梭来说，生活的主要目的是让女人成为妻子和母亲，因此她不需要像男人那样接受传统教育。他认为：

“Once it is demonstrated that man and woman are not, and should not be constituted the same, either in character or in temperament, it follows that they should not have the same education. In following the directions of nature they must act together but they should not do the same things; their duties have a common end, but the duties themselves are different and consequently also the tastes that direct them. After having tried to form the natural man, let us also see, in order not to leave our work incomplete, how the woman is to be formed who suits this man.”

对“埃米尔”的不同解释

一些评论家认为《埃米尔》是卢梭认为女人应该屈从于男人的证据，而其他人则认为他是在讽刺。有些人还指出了《埃米尔》中关于妇女和教育的根本矛盾。在这部作品中，卢梭提出，女性有责任教育年轻人，同时认为她们没有理性。”女性的整个教育应该是相对于男性的。取悦她们，对她们有用，让她们爱她们，让她们尊敬她们，在她们年轻的时候教育她们……”如果她们自己缺乏推理能力，女性如何教育任何人，甚至是幼儿？

卢梭关于女性的观点可以说随着年龄的增长变得更加复杂。在他晚年写的《忏悔录》中，他把帮助他进入社会知识圈归功于几位女性。显然，聪明的女性在他作为学者的成长过程中起到了一定的作用。

玛丽·沃斯通克拉夫特论卢梭的女性写作

玛丽·沃斯通克拉夫特在《维护妇女权利》和其他著作中阐述了卢梭关于妇女的一些观点，她在这些著作中断言，妇女是合乎逻辑的，可以从教育中受益。她质疑女人的目的是否只是男人的快乐。她还直接向卢梭致词，讽刺他对一个没有受过教育、无知的女仆的喜爱。

“Who ever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? Though in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of her sex; and therefore he labored to bring woman down to hers. He found her a convenient humble companion, and pride made him determined to find some superiour virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but did not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly show how grossly he was mistaken who called her a celestial innocent.”

卢梭的性别差异

卢梭的女性观受到了批评，但学者本人承认，他对两性差异的论证没有坚实的基础。他不确定是什么生物差异使女人和男人区别开来，称之为“程度上的差异”。但他认为，这些差异足以表明男人应该“坚强主动”，而女人应该“软弱被动”。他写道：

"If woman is made to please and to be subjugated to man, she ought to make herself pleasing to him rather than to provoke him; her particular strength lies in her charms; by their means she should compel him to discover his own strength and put it to use. The surest art of arousing this strength is to render it necessary by resistance. Thus pride reinforces desire and each triumphs in the other's victory. From this originates attack and defense, the boldness of one sex and the timidity of the other and finally the modesty and shame with which nature has armed the weak for the conquest of the strong."

卢梭认为女性可以成为英雄吗？

在《埃米尔》之前，卢梭列举了无数影响社会的女性英雄。他讨论了泽诺比亚、迪多、卢克雷蒂亚、圣女贞德、科妮莉亚、阿里亚、艾蒿、富尔维亚、伊丽莎白和瑟克利伯爵夫人。女主人公的贡献不容忽视。

"If women had had as great a share as we do in the handling of business, and in the governments of Empires, perhaps they would have pushed Heroism and greatness of courage farther and would have distinguished themselves in greater number. Few of those who have had the good fortune to rule states and command armies have remained in mediocrity; they have almost all distinguished themselves by some brilliant point by which they have deserved our admiration for them…. I repeat it, all proportions maintained, women would have been able to give greater examples of greatness of soul and love of virtue and in greater number than men have ever done if our injustice had not despoiled, along with their freedom, all the occasions manifest them to the eyes of the world."

在这方面，卢梭明确表示，如果给予女性机会像男性一样塑造社会，女性很可能改变世界。无论男女之间存在何种生理差异，所谓的弱性已经一再表明他们有能力成为伟人。