Mary Astell was an English protofeminist writer, philosopher, and rhetorician who advocated for equal educational opportunities for women. Astell is primarily remembered as one of England's inaugural advocates for women's rights and some commentators consider her to have been "the first English feminist."

Protofeminism is a concept that anticipates modern feminism in eras when the feminist concept as such was still unknown. This refers particularly to times before the 20th century, although the precise usage is disputed, as 18th-century feminism and 19th-century feminism are often subsumed into "feminism". The usefulness of the term protofeminist has been questioned by some modern scholars, as has the term postfeminist.