Introduction Vivien Jones; Part I. Constructing Women in the Eighteenth Century: Section I. Eighteenth-Century Femininities: 1. Writings on education and conduct: arguments for female improvement Kathryn Sutherland; 2. Eighteenth-century femininity: 'a supposed sexual character' Harriet Guest; 3. Women and race: 'a difference of complexion' Felicity A. Nussbaum; Section II. Women, Family, and the Law: 4. Women's status as legal and civic subjects: 'a worse condition than slavery itself?' Gillian Skinner; 5. Women in families: the great disturbance Ruth Perry; Section III. Women and Print: 6. Women and the business of print Paula McDowell; 7. Women readers: a case study Jan Fergus; Part II. Writing Women in the Eighteenth Century: 8. (Re)discovering women's texts Isobel Grundy; 9. Women and the rise of the novel: sexual prescripts Ros Ballaster; 10. Women poets of the eighteenth century Margaret Anne Doody; 11. Women and the theatre Angela J. Smallwood; 12. Women and popular culture: gender, cultural dynamics, and popular prints Dianne Dugaw; 13. Varieties of women's writing Clare Brant; Guide to further reading.