The gender norms shaped in the 18th century continue to influence us today. On the one hand, clear gender roles emerged: woman as an “emotional” being was assigned to house and children; man as a “rational” being to professional life and the public sphere. These differences were understood as “natural,” and the bourgeois division of roles was idealized. On the other hand, especially after the French Revolution, some voices demanded equal rights also for women, invoking the Enlightenment idea of equality.
Kant adopted the contemporary image of women and integrated it into his philosophy: despite equality in principle, woman was, in contrast to man, not destined for an independent life, but bound to house and marriage.