This book delves into the history of economic thought to show how the drive for gender equality has primarily emanated from within the tradition of classical liberalism. Gender issues and marriage theory have historically been neglected in political economy and economics but scholars are now becoming increasingly interested in them. The doctrine of the separate spheres does not belong only to economic thought: it emerged in the history of political philosophy, and it has been continuously taken up by other disciplines, especially by psychology, sociology, and anthropology. This book will be the first that allows us to understand how the role of this doctrine in economic thought is rooted on classical liberal principles, and how it has been adopted, modified and rejected by economists. This book will be of interest to those studying and researching the history of economic thought, the history of gender, and feminist and heterodox economics, as well as gender and cultural studies.weiterlesen