Women in philosophy

the state of the discipline
Philosophical discourse in women

Women have made significant contributions to philosophy throughout the history of the discipline. Ancient examples include Maitreyi (1000 BCE), Gargi Vachaknavi (700
BCE), Hipparchia of Maroneia (active c. 325 BCE) and Arete of Cyrene (active 5th–4th centuries BCE). Some women philosophers were accepted during the medieval and modern eras, but none became part of the Western canon until the 20th and 21st century, when some sources indicate that Susanne Langer, G. E. M. Anscombe, Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir entered the canon. Despite women participating in philosophy throughout history, there exists a gender imbalance in academic philosophy. This can be attributed to implicit biases against women. Women have had to overcome workplace obstacles like sexual harassment. Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the field of philosophy as well. Minorities and Philosophy (MAP), the American Philosophical Association, and the Society for Women in Philosophy are all organizations trying to fix the gender imbalance in academic philosophy. In the early 1800s, some colleges and universities in the UK and US began admitting women, producing more female academics. Nevertheless, U. S. Department of Education reports from the 1990s indicate that few women ended up in philosophy, and that philosophy is one of the least gender proportionate fields in the humanities. Women make up as little as 17% of philosophy faculty in some studies. In 2014, Inside Higher Education described the philosophy " discipline’s own long history of misogyny and sexual harassment" of women students and professors. Jennifer Saul, a professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield, stated in 2015 that women are " leaving philosophy after being harassed, assaulted, or retaliated against." In the early 1990s, the Canadian Philosophical Association claimed that there is gender imbalance and gender bias in the academic field of philosophy. In June 2013, a US sociology professor stated that "out of all recent citations in four prestigious philosophy journals, female authors comprise just 3.6 percent of the total." The editors of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy have raised concerns about the underrepresentation of women philosophers, and they require editors and writers to ensure they represent the contributions of women philosophers. According to Saul, philosophy, the oldest of the humanities, is also the malest (and the whitest). While other areas of the humanities are at or near gender parity, philosophy is actually more overwhelmingly male than even mathematics." In the May 13, 2015 issue of The Atlantic, Susan Price notes that even though Kant's first work in 1747 cites Émilie Du Châtelet, a philosopher who was a " scholar of Newton, religion, science, and mathematics", "her work won’t be found in the 1,000 plus pages of the new edition of The Norton Introduction to Philosophy." Explaining the very small number of women philosophers, American academic and social critic Camille Paglia (born 1947) argues that " women in general are less comfortable than men in inhabiting a highly austere, cold, analytical space, such as the one which philosophy involves. Women as a whole are more drawn to practical, personal matters. It is not that they inherently lack a talent or aptitude for philosophy or higher mathematics, but rather that they are more unwilling than men to devote their lives to a frigid space from which the natural and the human have been eliminated." In the Aeon essay "First women of philosophy" in December 2018, the global historian of ideas Dag Herbjørnsrud writes about the many women philosophers of the Global South, and concludes: "Philosophy was once a woman’s world, ranging across Asia, Africa and Latin America. It’s time to reclaim that lost realm." Herbjørnsrud argues that women and philosophers of color were excluded from the philosophical canon by Kant, Hegel and their supporters.

Some of the earliest philosophers were women, such as Hipparchia of Maroneia (active ca. 325 BC), Arete of Cyrene (active 5th–4th century BC) and Aspasia of Miletus (470–400 BC). Aspasia appears in the philosophical writings of Plato, Xenophon, Aeschines Socraticus and Antisthenes. Some scholars argue that Plato was impressed by her intelligence and wit and based his character Diotima in the Symposium on her. Socrates attributes to the (possibly fictional) Diotima of Mantinea his lessons in the art of Eros (or philosophical searching). Plato's final views on women are highly contested, but the Republic suggests that Plato thought women to be equally capable of education, intellectual vision, and rule of the city.

The 17th century marks the beginning of the modern philosophy era, which ended in the early 20th century. During the 17th century, various women philosophers argued for the importance of education for women and two women philosophers influenced René Descartes and during the early part of the 18th century, two women philosophers commented on John Locke’s philosophy. Laura Bassi (1711–1778) was the first woman to earn a university chair in a scientific field. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) demanded that French women be given the same rights as men, a position also taken by Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820) in her essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 97) in her essay A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). During the 19th century, Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) criticized the state of women's education and Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858), Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) and Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) called for women's rights. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) argued that women were oppressed by an androcentric culture. Near the start of the 20th century, Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) was the first woman to become president of the American Philosophical Association. Women thinkers such as Emma Goldman (1869–1940), an anarchist, and
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919), a Marxist theorist, are known for their political views. Influential contemporary philosophers include Edith Stein (1891–1942), Susanne Langer (1895–1985), Hannah Arendt (1906–1975), Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), Elizabeth Anscombe (1919–2001), Mary Midgley (1919–2018), Philippa Foot (1920–2010), Mary Warnock (1924–2019), Julia Kristeva (born 1941), Patricia Churchland (born 1943) Martha Nussbaum (born 1947) and Susan Haack (born 1945).

Marie de Gournay (1565–1645) was a critic of religion, proto feminist, translator and novelist who insisted that women should be educated. Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678) was a multilinguist known for her defense of female education. Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680) influenced many key figures and philosophers, most notably René Descartes, who she corresponded with. She questioned Descartes' idea of dualism, or the mind being separate from the body, and his theories regarding communication between the mind and body. Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673) was a philosopher and writer who addressed gender, power, manners, scientific methods, and philosophy. Anne Conway (1631–1679) was an English philosopher whose work, in the tradition of the Cambridge Platonists, was an influence on Leibniz. Conway's thought is original as it is rationalist philosophy, with hallmarks of gynocentric concerns and patterns, and in that sense it was unique among seventeenth century systems. Gabrielle Suchon (1632 1703), French philosopher of education Her most well known books outline her plan to establish a new type of educational institution for women.

Catharine Trotter Cockburn (1679–1749) published her first major philosophical work, A Defence of Mr. Lock[e]'s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1702, at the age of 23. Much of the scholarly interest in her writing centres on gender studies. Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749) was a French mathematician, physicist, and author during the Age of Enlightenment. She translated and commented on Isaac Newton's work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. She criticized John Locke’s philosophy and emphasizes the necessity of the verification of knowledge through experience. She also theorized about free will and on the way to do metaphysics. Laura Bassi (1711–1778) was an Italian philosopher and physicist who was the first woman in the world to earn a university chair in a scientific field of studies. She received a doctoral degree from the University of Bologna in May 1732, the third academic qualification ever bestowed on a woman by a university, and the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university in Europe. She was the first woman to be offered an official teaching position at a university in Europe. In her 1790 Letters on Education, she argued along the lines that Mary Wollstonecraft would do in 1792, that the apparent weakness of women was due to their mis education. Im Yunjidang (1721 1793) was a Korean writer and neo Confucian philosopher. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience. She was an early feminist who demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male–female inequality. Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820) was an early American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer. She was one of the first American proponents of the idea of the equality of the sexes—that women, like men, had the capability of intellectual accomplishment and should be able to achieve economic independence. Among many other influential pieces, her landmark essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" paved the way for new thoughts and ideas proposed by other feminist writers of the century. The essay predated Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman which was published in 1792. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. She is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her most famous and influential work, she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

Nana Asmaʼu (1793 1864) was a Nigerian poet and political writer, who supported the education of women. Marianna Florenzi (1802–1870) was an Italian marchioness (in Italian marchesa). Née Marianna Bacinetti, she was a writer, philosopher and translator of philosophical works. She was also known by her married name of Marianna Florenzi Waddington. A daughter of count Pietro Bacinetti of Ravenna and countess Laura Rossi di Lugo, she had a literary education and devoted herself to reading philosophical works, becoming the female ideal of an educated woman of the time and a witty hostess of cultural gatherings and salons. She was one of the first female students, studying natural sciences at the University of Perugia in the first half of the 19th century. She translated Leibniz's Monadology into Italian and also promoted the spread of works by Kant, Spinoza and Schelling (whose work Bruno she also translated) in Italian. Politically she supported Italy's national movement and in 1850 published Some reflections on socialism and communism, which (like many of her other works) ended up on the church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum. She was for forty years a lover and close friend of Ludwig I of Bavaria, whom she visited more than thirty times. He always sought her advice, even in government matters, and 3,000 of her letters to him (along with 1,500 of his replies) survive. Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) was an English social theorist and political writer, often cited as the first female sociologist. However her work ranges more widely than this; she wrote books and essays on philosophy, religion, society, history, politics, literature, biography, and many other forms. In Society in America, she criticised the state of women's education, stating that the "intellect of women is confined by an unjustifiable restriction" of access to education; she urged women to become well educated and free. She also savagely criticised America for the contradiction between its liberal principles and its then practice of slavery. Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858) was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. In John Stuart Mill's autobiography, he claimed she was the joint author of most of the books and articles published under his name. He stated that "when two persons have their thoughts and speculations completely in common it is of little consequence, in respect of the question of originality, which of them holds the pen." Together, they wrote "Early Essays on Marriage and Divorce", published in 1832. The debate about the nature and extent of her collaboration is ongoing. Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) was an American journalist, critic, philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. She was an advocate of women's rights and, in particular, women's education and the right to employment. Many other advocates for women's rights and feminism, including Susan B. Anthony, cite Fuller as a source of inspiration. Frances Power Cobbe (1822 1904) was a very well known writer on philosophical and religious subjects in Victorian Britain, as well as a feminist and leading animal welfare campaigner. She was an intuitionist in ethics, a critic of Darwin and atheism, and addressed the full range of philosophical topics including philosophy of mind, aesthetics, history, death and personal immortality, and moral theory. In 1863 she set out a philosophical case for animal rights. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) was the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the United States. She was a well versed public speaker on controversial issues such as abolition of slavery and she sought to expand women's rights. In 1873 Blackwell founded the Association for the Advancement of Women. Frances Julia Wedgwood (1833 1913) published from the 1860s to 1890s on the metaphysical, religious, and ethical implications of Darwin’s theory of evolution; arguments for women’s rights and suffrage; Biblical criticism; a large scale account of the development of ‘the moral ideal’ across world civilisations; and Judaism’s central contribution to European civilisation. Her works include The Moral Ideal in 1888. Victoria, Lady Welby (1837–1912) was a self educated English philosopher of language. She was published articles in the leading English language academic journals of the day, Mind and The Monist. She published her first philosophical book, What Is Meaning? Studies in the Development of Significance in 1903, following it with Significs and Language: The Articulate Form of Our Expressive and Interpretive Resources in 1911. Welby's concern with the problem of meaning included (perhaps especially) the everyday use of language, and she coined the word significs for her approach. Welby's theories on signification anticipated contemporary semantics, semiotics, and semiology. Vernon Lee (1856 1935) is best known for her many writings on aesthetics, including Belcaro (1881), ‘Art and Life’ (1896), and 'The Beautiful' (1913). She was associated with the aestheticist movement in the 1880s but went on to criticise it and reconnect beauty with goodness. She also wrote on ethical, religious, and political topics, including vivisection, evolution, atheism, and utilitarianism. She experimented with forms that straddled the boundary between philosophy and literature. Constance Naden (1858–89) defended induction in science, argued for atheism, and put forward the metaphysical system she called ‘hylo idealism’, on which we can know only our own ideas and nothing outside them, yet these ideas are merely the products of our brains reacting to physical stimuli. Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914) was a Czech Austrian pacifist and novelist. In 1905 she was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Suttner's pacifism was influenced by the writings of Immanuel Kant, Henry Thomas Buckle, Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin and Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy praised Die Waffen nieder!). Helene von Druskowitz (1856–1918) was an Austrian philosopher, writer and music critic. She was the second woman to obtain a Doctorate in Philosophy, which she obtained in Zürich. She usually published under a male alias because of the predominant sexism of the era. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) was an American feminist, sociologist, novelist, writer and social reformer. Her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" became a bestseller. The story is about a woman who suffers from mental illness after three months of being closeted in a room by her husband. She argued that the domestic environment oppressed women through the patriarchal beliefs upheld by society. Gilman argued that women's contributions to civilization, throughout history, have been halted because of an androcentric culture. She argued that women were the underdeveloped half of humanity. She believed economic independence would bring freedom and equality for women.

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) was an American philosopher and psychologist. She was also the first woman to become president of the American Psychological Association and the American Philosophical Association. Calkins studied psychology under William James and studied at Harvard University, which allowed her to attend courses but refused to register her as a student, because she was a woman. She published her doctoral dissertation in 1896, and Harvard's Department of Philosophy and Psychology recommended that she be granted her PhD, but Harvard's president and board refused, as she was a woman. The president believed women should not study with men. James was astonished at the university's decision, as he described her performance as "the most brilliant examination for the Ph. D. that we have had at Harvard." She published four books and over one hundred papers in her career in psychology and philosophy. She was also an avid supporter of women's rights and an advocate of women's right to vote. Emma Goldman (1869–1940) was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in the first half of the 20th century. She was viewed as a free thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and denounced by critics as an advocate of violent revolution. Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. Although she distanced herself from first wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage, she developed ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and revolutionary socialist of Polish Jewish descent. While Luxemburg defended Marx's materialism dialectics and his conception of history, she called for spontaneous grass roots based class struggle.

In the early 1990s, the Canadian Philosophical Association claimed that " there is compelling evidence" of " philosophy’s gender imbalance" and "bias and partiality in many of its theoretical products." In 1992, the association recommended that "fifty percent of [philosophy] positions should be filled by women." Haslanger states that she experienced "occasions when a woman’s status in graduate school was questioned because she was married, or had a child (or had taken time off to have a child so was returning to philosophy as a ‘mature’ student), or was in a long distance relationship". American philosopher Martha Nussbaum, who completed a PhD in philosophy at Harvard University in 1975, alleges that she encountered a tremendous amount of discrimination during her studies at Harvard, including sexual harassment and problems getting childcare for her daughter. The story was subsequently featured at Inside Higher Ed and several blogs, including Gawker and Jezebel. In 2013, a series of posts on the blog "What's it like to be a woman in philosophy?" instigated a spate of mainstream media articles on the continued dominance of men in philosophy. Eric Schliesser, a professor of philosophy at Ghent University, said he believes that the " systematic pattern of exclusion of women in philosophy is, in part, due to the fact that my profession has allowed a culture of harassment, sexual predating, and bullying to be reproduced from one generation to the next." Jennifer Saul, a professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield, set up a blog for women philosophers in 2010. She received numerous allegations of sexual harassment by male philosophy faculty, including a "job candidate who said she was sexually assaulted at the annual APA meeting where job interviews take place", an "undergraduate whose professor joked publicly about dripping hot wax on her nipples" and a " lesbian who found herself suddenly invited, after she came out, to join in the sexualizing of her female colleagues." Saul states that philosophy departments failed to deal with the allegations. "Sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or sexually directed remarks constitute sexual harassment when submission to such conduct is made a condition of academic or employment decisions, or when such conduct persists despite its rejection." "Sexual harassment is a serious violation of professional ethics, and should be regarded and treated as such by members of the profession. Sexual harassment is a form of prohibited discrimination when an institution or individual employee is aware of a sexually hostile environment and condones, tolerates or allows that environment to exist. Colleges and universities should supply clear, fair institutional procedures under which charges of sexual harassment on campus can be brought, assessed, and acted on." "Complaints of sexual harassment at APA sponsored activities should be brought to the chair of the committee for the defense of professional rights of philosophers or, if they arise in the context of placement activities, to the APA ombudsperson. Complaints of sexual harassment by or against APA staff members should be brought to the chair of the board."

Nana Asma'u (1793–1864), from the Sokoto Caliphate in today's Nigeria, is one of many notable black women philosophers. She was a founder of the educational network Yan Taru (‘The Associates’), which is still active today. She wrote in the Fulfulde, Hausa and Arabic languages, and her first text had the title: ‘Warning for the Negligent and Reminder for the Intelligent Regarding the Ways of the Pious’. She argued for humility between people, and for "good relations with one’s relatives, servants, and comrades. This is shown by being cheerful with them; doing good things for them; serving them; never acting as if superior to them; consulting them in many matters; helping them financially and physically [ ]" In the United States, the " representation of scholars of color is plausibly worse than in any other field in the academy, including not only physics, but also engineering." McPherson states that there is a " willful, not necessarily a conscious, preference among many members of the philosophy profession largely to maintain the status quo in terms of: the social group profiles of members; the dynamics of prestige and influence; and the areas and questions deemed properly or deeply 'philosophical.' None of this is good for black folk."

Few Asian women are recognized in contemporary Western philosophy. In a New York Times interview with George Yancy, Korean American philosopher Emily S. Lee, assistant professor of philosophy at California State University, Fullerton, states, "I wonder if some of my experiences occur from being Asian American, in the ways people stereotypically assume that I must specialize in certain areas of philosophy or behave in specific ways, such as being quiet and subdued." She postulates that the social forces that stereotype and encourage Asian Americans to enter more lucrative and secure fields (such as engineering or medicine) combined with influences within the field of philosophy discouraging Asian American youths from continuing their study in the field has led to the extremely small population of Asian American female philosophers. University of Washington philosophy professor Carole Lee's report in the American Philosophical Association's newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies suggests that Asian women face conflicting stereotypes, making it difficult for them to fit into the field of philosophy: "Women are stereotyped as submissive rather than aggressive and as being bad at math: they lack both characteristics associated with philosophy." On the other had, "Asian Americans are stereotyped as being mathematical; however, they are characterized in passive rather than aggressive terms." Philosopher David Kim offers the explanation that a lack of Asian American mentors in philosophy and "derogation of philosophical thought that resonates with their identity" may also contribute to the wide disparity.

The burgeoning field of Latino philosophy acknowledges the role of Chicana Feminism and the cultural theories by Gloria E. Anzaldúa (1947–2004) as precursors to the field. Latina philosophers who practice in the United States and publish widely in Spanish and English include: Maria Lugones (born 1948), and Susana Nuccetelli (1954) from Argentina; and Ofelia Schutte (1944) from Cuba; Linda Martín Alcoff (1955) from Panama (editor of "Stories of Women in Philosophy"); and Giannina Braschi (1953) from Puerto Rico. Giannina Braschi's writings on Puerto Rican independence and capitalism focus on financial terrorism, gender identity, debt structures, and "feardom". Whereas, Susana Nuccetelli widely questions the nature of justice and women's rights, and Latina cultural identity. Forerunners to other women in the field of Latino philosophy are Spanish and Latin American women philosophers who wrote in Spanish: Teresa de Avila (1515–1582), Oliva Sabuco (1562–1622), Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (1648–1695), Maria Zambrano (1904–1991), and Victoria Camps (1941). One of the earliest Latin American feminist philosophers was es (1928–2003), who introduced feminist philosophy into the academic curriculum of Mexican universities in the 1970s and organized the first panel on feminism at a national Mexican philosophy conference in 1979. Academic platforms for their work include Letras Femininas, Chasqui, Latinx Cultural Center at Utah State University, APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues on Philosophy, Society for Mexican American Philosophy, and the annual Latinx Philosophy Conference. These forums span a wide range of Latino social justice and cultural issues (e. g. Imperialism, coloniality of gender, race theories, gender discrimination, gender in grammar, immigration, incarceration, decolonialization, citizenship, queer desire, and disability within Latin American and U. S. Latina feminisms).

There are many possible causes for why women are underrepresented in philosophy. As mentioned above, female philosophers have faced discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. Other hypotheses have risen as the problem of underrepresentation becomes more apparent. A. E. Kings points to a particular "myth of genius" that could be affecting the rate at which women pursue post graduate degrees in philosophy. This myth is about perception; Kings believes that women are less likely to be perceived as "geniuses." These perceptions can be internalized, which "can lead to underperformance, and even withdrawal from a discipline altogether."

Role overload is a concept that can apply to women in a multitude of ways. Role overload is the idea that there are multiple roles a person must take on, and in maintaining these roles, psychological duress can occur. These roles could be within a workplace, higher education, or at home. Examples of these roles outside of the academic and workplace environment include the role of mother or caregiver. Role overload could also occur if a person is required to fulfill many roles at once within the workplace. In higher education, role overload could be seen as a person performing the roles of a student and teaching assistant at the same time. It could also compound; a woman could be a mother, working a job, as well as being a student. In their 1997 report, "Characteristics and Attitudes of Instructional Faculty and Staff in the Humanities," NCES notes, that about "one half of full time instructional faculty and staff in 4 year institutions in English and literature (47 percent) and foreign languages (50 percent) were female in the fall of 1992, compared with less than one half of instructional faculty and staff in history (24 percent) and philosophy and religion (13 percent) (table 4)." In this report they measure Philosophy and Religion in the same data set, and estimate the total number of full time instructional Philosophy and Religion faculty and staff in 4 yr institutions to be 7,646. Of these, 87.3% are male (6675 men),
12.7 are female (971 women). The 1997 report measures History Full time instructional faculty and staff in 4 yr institutions to be 11,383; male:76.3 (8,686 men);
female: 23.7 (2,697 women). The numbers of women in philosophy from the two studies are not easily comparable, but one rough method may be to subtract the number of women in history in the 1997 report from the number of women estimated to be in 'history and philosophy' in the 2000 report. Doing so suggests that as a rough estimate, 1,293 women are employed as instructors of philosophy. The 1997 report indicates that a large portion of all humanities instructors are part time. Part time employees are disproportionately female but not majority female. Therefore, considerations of full time employees only necessarily leave out data on many women working part time to remain active in their field. In 2004, the percentage of Ph. D. s in philosophy, within the U. S., going to women reached a record high percentage: 33.3%, or 121 of the 363 doctorates awarded.

Minorities and Philosophy (MAP) is an international movement of graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members in philosophy working on issues related to "the underrepresentation of women an minorities in philosophy." MAP consists of chapters at universities around the world, and the format can vary from school to school. However, all chapters focus broadly on issues minorities face in the profession, philosophical issues regarding minorities, and work done by minority philosophers, as well as issues that are specific to that school's philosophy department. MAP's short term goals include providing a space for students to discuss and work on these issues, and long term goals include contributing to the culture of academic philosophy and increasing participation and recognition of minorities in philosophy. In recent years, MAP has fostered collaborative work between chapters, establishing "connections between chapters that benefit both members and departments long term," increased work on inclusive pedagogy, and organized efforts to bring philosophy into communities outside of university campuses, such as prisons and elementary schools.

The blog Feminist Philosophers hosts the Gendered Conference Campaign, which works toward increasing the representation of women at philosophy conferences and in edited volumes. The blog states that "all male events and volumes help to perpetuate the stereotyping of philosophy as male. This in turn to contributes to implicit bias against women in philosophy "