In the 19th and early 20th centuries, debates about the place of women in society grew. It was also the time when Auguste Comte’s ideas and the positivist movement developed. The philosopher’s positions, as well as those of his disciples, are paradoxical and complex. Intertwining traditional conceptions – women, being affective, must escape the dangers of outside work and intellectual work, reserved for men – and progressive proposals – their education must be as complete as that of men –, Count also promotes a sacralization of woman: she will be the symbol of humanity in the new positivist religion.
The way in which Comte saw women and their role was strongly influenced by his personal life: his stormy relations with his wife Caroline, the relationship and then the adoration of Clotilde de Vaux, both correspondent, friend and feminine ideal, fed his reflections. His exchanges with some important women of letters and intellectuals of his time, such as Sarah Austin, Fanny Wright, Harriet Martineau or Nisia Floresta, as well as his readings of Mary Wollstonecraft and his interest in the salonnières of the eighteenth century, are as many elements to be taken into account in the evolution of its positions and its paradoxes on the female question.