Abstract
"The second Sex", by Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was published in 1949, at a time when women were considered inferior to men. In her book, Beauvoir argues that women have historically been considered abnormal and deviant, and have been refused control over their own existence, and were not allowed to have a job and be independent. Thus, in her work, she presents a feminism existentialism (influenced in this by her friend Jean-Paul Sartre) which prescribes a moral revolution. In fact Beauvoir has been quite influenced by the existentialist idea that existence precedes essence, and thus, one is not born a woman but becomes a woman "One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman", "today's woman is a creation of nature; we must repeat that in the human collective nothing is natural, and that among other things, women are a product developed by civilization." What Beauvoir demonstrates is that the fundamental oppression women are suffering does not have natural roots, but is rather constructed by the society they live in ""it is the entire civilization that develops the intermediate product between the male and female described as a eunuch". Thus she claims that women are victims of men, and they should reject this system and free themselves from the domination of men "So far the potential of women were suffocated and lost to humanity, and it is high time that in its own interest and in that of all, that she finally gets her chance."
Her book is divided into four parts, all of which explain the different reasons why the woman is oppressed by the society she lives in, on the social, economical, political, and sexual level. She thus explains how some biological circumstances make the woman consider herself as inferior.
