Women You May Not Know

Black and white photo of Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau

1802 - 1876

Biography

Harriet Martineau (English, 1802-1876) is often cited as the first woman sociologist.

Her columns on politics and 1832 tome on laissez-faire economics won widespread notice; she soon counted John Stuart Mill and Thomas Malthus among her admirers.

In 1834, Martineau toured the U.S., meeting James Madison and several abolitionists. Her subsequent books Society in America (1837) and How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838) sharply derided America’s subordination of women and Blacks.

Returning to Europe, Martineau found favor with Charles and Erasmus Darwin, who shared her Unitarian background and liberal Whig politics. Her voluminous writings include children’s literature and novels, a Middle East travelogue, and studies of faith, race, and economics.

After years of poor health, Martineau underwent hypnosis (then, “mesmerism”), and wrote Life in the Sickroom, a uniquely feminist treatise on reclaiming one’s physical space and health.

Martineau petitioned for the Married Women’s Property Bill in 1856 and for women’s suffrage in 1866.

By Jen Hawkins