This article questions the commonly assumed prevalence of women in Greek Hellenistic priesthoods, often considered to put them on equal footing with men in this sphere, through the particular case study of Rhodes, a state whose religious organisation appears entirely dominated by male priests. It suggests that it is time to revise some of the general assumptions about women and Greek religion by placing greater emphasis on regional variations. Consequently, it argues that local organisation and the epigraphic habit likely played (...) a role, and examines in detail the evidence that does survive for Rhodian priestesses. Do these appear in particularly “feminine” cultic contexts? Can we find any evidence for a “gender-rule” of priesthoods? Finally, this article considers the limited public representation of women in Hellenistic Rhodian society, and what light this casts on our understanding of priesthoods. (shrink)

While agreeing with Bergès on the importance for philosophy of reading the works of women such as Roland, Gouges, and Grouchy, her account of them as committed to the concept of liberty as non-domination, articulated by Philip Pettit, is questioned. It is argued that their views are more accurately described as involving a commitment to the tradition of positive liberty, that was criticised by Berlin in his famous essay ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’. The republican writings of Catharine Macaulay are shown (...) to be part of the context in which these women wrote, and similarities between her philosophical outlook, which involves a clear commitment to positive liberty, and the positions developed by the French authors are explored. It is argued that, in general, it is methodologically problematic to uncritically apply concepts that were developed by intellectual historians who failed to include works written by women in their histories, in order to understand the philosophical commitments of neglected works by such women. (shrink)

Research on women's political representation in postsocialist Europe has highlighted the role of cultural and political factors in obstructing women's access to legislative power, such as the prevalence of traditional gender stereotypes, electoral systems, and the absence of a feminist movement. Yet, the role of women political elites in enhancing or hindering women's access to political power in the region has so far remained uncharted. This article seeks to fill some of the existing gaps in this literature by examining the (...) views of women politicians with regard to women's political underrepresentation and their assessments of strategies for redressing this imbalance. Findings from the analysis reveal that although women politicians recognize gender inequalities in representation as a problem requiring intervention, how the problem is perceived, and the preferred measures to deal with it, is largely shaped by the social and cultural context in which these actors are embedded. (shrink)