Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, and feminist. Her groundbreaking work The Second Sex (1949) analyzed the oppression of women and became a foundational text of modern feminism.

Her famous assertion that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" challenged biological essentialism and argued that gender is socially constructed. She also wrote important works on ethics, aging, and existential freedom.