Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, novelist, and political activist. Her philosophical work extended Sartrean existentialism to the analysis of gender, arguing that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" — a claim that inaugurated second-wave feminism.

De Beauvoir brought together existentialist themes of freedom and authenticity with a rigorous social analysis of how freedom is systematically denied to women. Her ethics of ambiguity attempted to reconcile individual freedom with genuine engagement with others.