Published by the Fraser Institute, the Essential Women of Liberty includes a book (and accompanying website and animated videos), which spotlight the lives and ideas of women who helped shape the free and prosperous societies we enjoy today.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
Authors
- Published in
- Canada
