VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This International Women’s Day, a new essay series examines the lives and ideas of women who helped shape the free and prosperous societies we enjoy today. Published by the Fraser Institute, the Essential Women of Liberty also includes a website and animated videos.
“Over the last 200 years, despite enormous barriers, these women made important contributions to our understanding of free societies and the struggle for individual liberty, illustrating the breadth of the classical liberal tradition and its enduring appeal to independent minds,” said Virginia Postrel, internationally-recognized author who penned the Foreword for the series.
The 10 essay subjects include:
- Mary Wollstonecraft, one the first prominent English feminists, who insisted that artificial barriers to the development of all people violated natural law
- Harriet Martineau, whose simple storytelling educated the general public about basic economic principles such as the division of labour and free trade
- Rose Director (better known as Rose Friedman), whose early academic work on the nature of spending behaviour laid the foundation for some of her husband Milton’s research; and Mary Paley Marshall, who made significant contributions to economics in collaboration with her husband, famed economist Alfred Marshall
- Isabel Paterson, an author and vocal advocate for the individual and capitalism in the 20th century
- Rose Wilder Lane, whose writing—including her magnum opus, The Discovery of Freedom—helped launch the American libertarian movement
- Ayn Rand, whose iconic novels—including Atlas Shrugged—celebrated reason, freedom and individualism
- Anna Schwartz, whose work on central banks and inflation helped change monetary policy worldwide
- Jane Jacobs, who wrote about (and advocated for) bottom-up decision-making by community members rather than decisions by distant unaccountable bureaucrats and urban planners
- Elinor Ostrom, the first woman awarded the Nobel prize in economics, who helped change our understanding of how local non-government organizations govern the use of common resources such as forests and waterways
- Deirdre McCloskey, who made enormous contributions to a wide range of academic interests and increased our understanding of why some countries prosper while others stagnate
To learn more about the Fraser Institute’s Essential Scholar series, visit www.essentialscholars.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
To arrange interviews or for more information, please contact:
Mark Hasiuk, Senior Media Relations Specialist @ (604) 688-0221 ext. 517 or mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org.
