From the Joy of Thinking - The History of Women Who Philosophize. If you open a typical history of philosophy, you might think that thinking is a privilege of men. It requires persistent searching to discover thinking women. Because they existed, and not just since the last century when women were allowed to think professionally, meaning academically recognized, but since ancient times. They also taught, even in antiquity, yet to this day the number of female professors in philosophy departments is exceedingly low. What is the reason for this? Can women fold laundry better than they can contemplate being itself? No, certainly not, but they had different circumstances and had to approach things differently than men to express their thoughts. And likely due to the gender roles, they did not receive the same visibility.