I found this rather interesting article in a book of Locke's selected writings edited by Paul E. Sigmund. Besides passages from Locke's most important works, it has a collections of writings from "sources" of his though like Hooker, Grotius, von Pufendorf and some modern scholarly interpretations. I found this one on line: Early Liberal Roots of Feminism: John Locke and the Attack on Patriarchy written by Melissa A. Butler. https://books.google.com/[WORD TOO LONG]
It's Chapter 4 of Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory (if the above got a "WORD TOO LONG" google that title).
In it, Butler argues that the overthrowing of patriarchal theory, which maintained that "everyone was born in subjection to some patriarchal superior" with the King as an absolute Big Daddy, was a necessary (if not sufficient unto itself) step to modern feminism. Tracing the overthrow of patriarchal theory to "Whigs such as Sidney, Tyrell and Locke" , Butler states: "Contract and individual choice supplanted birth and divine designation as crucial factors in social and political analysis." She concludes her first part with: "Eventually, liberals would be forced to bring their views on women into line with their theory of human nature. This changing image of women certainly played a part in that shift in consciousness which paved the way for the sexual revolution".
Interesting stuff. I'll throw that out before getting to Locke's surprisingly modern views on women's education, married women's property rights and other women's issues.
EDIT: It's probably easier to google the title of the article and then go to the link that starts: https://books.google.com/books
Originally posted by @no1marauderThis does look interesting, in fact I've never figured out why countries don't convert to a matriarchal system, so many men are killed in wars, it makes things like inheritances and public records a real mess.
I found this rather interesting article in a book of Locke's selected writings edited by Paul E. Sigmund. Besides passages from Locke's most important works, it has a collections of writings from "sources" of his though like Hooker, Grotius, von Pufendorf and some modern scholarly interpretations. I found this one on line: [i]Early Liberal Roots of Fem ...[text shortened]... gly modern views on women's education, married women's property rights and other women's issues.