In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir passionately outlines her philosophy concerning the relationship between men and women. She asserts that women should be acknowledged as “free and autonomous” human beings, in spite of the fact that they have traditionally been forced to assume the role of “the OTHER” – weaker, more emotional, inferior sex.

A great deal of Simone de Beauvoir’s analysis rings true today. As an Existentialist, de Beauvoir believed that Transcendence is the highest human goal; but in order to do this, one must be allowed to maximize their potential here in this physical realm, by manifesting their own free will.

De Beauvoir argued that most women are not allowed to manifest their free will; thus they can never achieve Transcendence.

As human beings, we strive to manifest our Will in the material world, but we are restricted from reaching ultimate perfection because our true nature – our soul – is tied down to this existence by what de Beauvoir refers to as ‘Immanence.’

Simon de Beauvoir died in 1986, so she was at least able to see some of the enormous changes the sexual revolution brought to society and the profound shift in women’s roles in general, during her lifetime.

On the other hand, she surely must have seen that while there may have been more women in the workforce in 1986, they were still more or less trapped in their Immanence; pretty much as they were when de Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex in 1949. Sadly, for the most part, this is still the case.

Although our souls are constantly struggling to reach Transcendence, de Beauvoir asserted that women’s identities are defined too much by their physical bodies in a way that men have never been. She argued that a woman’s destiny is more determined by the fact that she is able to bring forth life…because she has ovaries and a uterus, more than anything else…

To a large degree, women’s lives have been predetermined by their reproductive capacity. But as reported by various human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and UNESCO, women and children around the world are in greater danger than ever before. Human trafficking is a global problem which is only getting worse.

Needless to say, throughout recorded history women have been isolated, subjugated and victimized by men. Unfortunately in some cases, women have to bear some responsibility themselves for helping to perpetuate these pervasive patterns over the years.

Until the #MeToo movement was born out of the Harvey Weinstein affair in Hollywood, too many women were afraid to speak up and speak out about everyday sexual harassment and discrimination.

However, in many Arab and Muslim countries, women are still treated as virtual sex slaves, and they’re not even considered citizens or granted any basic rights – despite some minor gains over the last few years. In India, bride-burning is still fairly commonplace for those unfortunate wives who don’t come with a large enough dowry.

And in Western society, women are still simply viewed as sex objects for the most part, defined by their physical bodies.

Women will never be able to develop their own identity or Immanence until they stop believing that the only worth they have as human beings is in motherhood. Woman cannot maximize their concrete opportunities or improve their lives if they are forced to be nothing but baby-makers. Simone de Beauvoir tried to articulate this idea in The Second Sex.