Comment by morgan on Happy Ada Lovelace Day · 2012-10-19T05:21:59.030Z · LW · GW

it is implausible that this high regard is explicable in terms of political correctness, given the time period.

When do you think that the movement for progress toward gender equality began? Keep in mind that women gained to right to vote near the beginning of the 20th century, and the movement to bring that about began many decades before then. This illustrates the point that the movement for progress toward gender equality has been influential for well over a century. It does have a beginning, but that beginning is long before 1903, not after.

An example of a prominent and hugely influential intellectual who favored progress toward gender equality and who lived long before 1903 is John Stuart Mill, who wrote The Subjection of Women.