Helene Cixous is quite a lot of fun, but doesn’t make a huge amount of sense.
Judith Butler’s reading of Derrida is first rate - one of the best I’ve come across (and I’ve read a lot of different people’s takes on Derrida).
Yu Dan is interesting once you get past the initial shock of a chinese woman trying to repopularize Confucianism. I mean, the idea itself is pretty crazy, but she takes it in a more female-friendly direction so it makes at least a little sense . . . kinda.
Mary Evelyn Tucker is pretty much the best/only English-speaking scholar on Kaibara Ekken’s philosophy and she does a very good job of it. I’d say that the only complaint I have with her is that she’s bought into his philosophy to an extent that she no longer really offers a critical analysis.
I want to say that JB is the most useful and insightful female philosopher. I can’t because like I said, I haven’t read many, but I want to say it.
As for other women philosophers:
*Onara O’Neill: Philosopher known (at least as I know her) for numerous articles on ethics. She introduced me to deontology.
*Christine Korsgaard: A VERY well known contemporary philosopher in moral philosophy, specifically in regards to the Kantian tradition.
*Marilyn McCord Adams: Philosopher and theologian. Controversial in her views of the Christian acceptance of homosexuality, and very interesting read.
I like the writings of Mary Shelly. Does that count?
( Frankenstein is so cool.)
Sorry ladies… 
Feminism doesn’t count as a philosophy. 
Agreed.
Also, Ayn Rand doesn’t count as a philosopher. (I’m not saying she’s a feminist, just that she’s not a philosopher.)
Dude, she was out there having sex with men half her age. How isn’t that fulfilling the feminist dream of society?
Well it’s debatable whether she was s feminist. But I think it’s clear she’s not a philosopher.
Care to fill those both in?
Feminism seems to fall well within rights-based political and ethical philosophy.
And Rand (however strange) does represent a philosophical view, however strange. It may very well be false but doesn’t seem to be non-philosophical on its basis.
By what you say, almost anything counts as philosophy.
Do I represent a philosophical viewpoint? Does that make me a philosopher?
And almost anything is philosophy, traditional definitions of philosophy usually run along the lines of ‘the persuit of truth’. Anything that explores truth is in essence philosophy, what is deemed as philosophy in the contemporary setting is merely the persuit of truth within a very abstract framework.
And your views do represent a philisophical viewpoint. They may not be as well-developed or compelling as anyone elses but they are a viewpoint, and given that they tackle the specific areas of philosophy and utilize various ‘philisophical’ tools they would be very much philisophical.
Does this make you a philosopher? That is a much more difficult question, as the definition of philosopher hasn’t had quite the same unity as that of philosophy. I would say ‘no’ from what I know of you, but that would be an opinion based on my definition.
Edit: You reject feminism as not-philosophy, and Ayn Rand as a non-philosopher: any basis for this?
I guess I could do what you just did and say that’s just my opinion. You’re right though. Everything is philosophy. Even Brittney Spears music, because it helps teenage girls explore the wisdom of slutness. And I guess comedians are really philosophers because they teach us the wisdom of humor. And maybe the guy who takes my order at McDonalds is a philosopher because he enlightens me to the fact that I can supersize my value meal for just .99 cents. I mean knowledge is gained under all those conditions as a consequence of the actions of those agents. I suppose that makes them philosophers.
If there were many lovers of philosophy of the female persuasion, you would think that Smears’ post would have drawn them out of the woodwork.
HIs contributions on the thread are alive and well.
On the other hand, he may have a bit of trouble finding someone to wash his shirts from within academic circles.
Then again, the 40 % of German women of higher learning never become mothers is a revealing statistic. too.
I used to date a girl who thought she was a feminist. But she was just a theater major. I never got a good argument out of her. All she’d do was cry. I think she dropped out of college and got pregnant. Actually, I’m sure of it.
Dude I’m pretty sure she was a hardcore feminist… 
Butch haircut with a female tuxedo and everything… 
[b]( She was in make believe land playing the role of men.)
( Sounds hot.)[/b]
She was doing it to get ahead in the job world…
( Duh, Everybody knows that. 
)
Technically ethical philosophy only equals to a deranged insanity only.
Um, ok.
What about chefs? Are they usually not men?
Laundry is a women’s work? What about bacholers who do their own laundry or men who laundry businesses?
Makeup is not exclusively feminine because both men and women historically, especially of the upper classes, used it extensively.
“On the other hand, some fundamentalist branches of Islam forbid the use of cosmetics. The Taliban, for example, would beat or kill women found to be wearing cosmetics.” Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cosmetics
Plessy vs. Fergeuson and Brown vs. Board have nothing to do with “gender equity”.
Marie Curie with her husband pioneered the field of radioactivity, stuff that could blow up the world. Shirley Jackson, a female physicist, is the president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a major physics research center. She makes $891,400 a year. Stephanie Kwolek, an American chemist, introduced to the world nylon Dacron polyester, Lycra spandex, and Nomex aramid.
I am female and do terribly in math above the trig level and I’ve come across both men and women who can do math far better than me.
I hope that helps. 
Just because you can show that there exist some cases where the opposite of what I say applies doesn’t mean that my view isn’t representative of most cases. Are you telling me that there aren’t more great men scientists and more great women cooks? If a woman does ground breaking science she’s a famous woman scientist. If a man cooks well, he gets a TV show.