Simone de Beauvoir, who became a leading representative of philosophy against essentialism with the statement “One is not born a woman, but becomes one,” lived in France from 1908 to 1986; She was a writer and philosopher who played significant roles in contemporary philosophical movements, particularly in the development of existentialist and feminist theories. Beauvoir, who received her philosophy education at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure, also served as an editor of the journal *Les Temps Modernes* alongside philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, whom she met there. Her most important works are *The Second Sex*, written in 1949, and *The Ethics of Ambiguity*, written in 1947. In these works, she developed critical theories against the essentialist modes of thought in the history of philosophy that othered women and reduced them to a secondary position; she explored ways to philosophically rethink womanhood—along with its historical and social dimensions—without separating it from her humanity and truth.
In addition to her philosophical works, Beauvoir also wrote numerous novels and played a fundamental role in both literature and the social sciences, as well as in the history of the women’s movement. Simone de Beauvoir passed away in Paris in 1986.