This manuscript leaf is part of a grandiose project that Rousseau was working on with his employer Madame Dupin during his years as her secretary. The project was that of writing the history of womankind. With its focus on gender equality, the work is nothing less than pioneering and would no doubt have been a work of seminal importance in the history of feminism and women's rights, had it ever been published. The manuscript ended up comprising more than 2.000 pages, but was never printed.

Louise Marie Madeline Fontaine Dupin (1706-1799) was one of the most famous salonnieres of the 18th century, renowned for the beauty as well as her intelligence. Rousseu met her in 1743 and took an instant liking to her. In 1745, she offered him the position as her private secretary and tutor to her son. During his six years in her employment, he spent most of the time working on the grandiose project of the history of women, until it was abandoned in 1751.

"In the years between 1745 and 1749 Jean Jacques Rousseau was employed by Louise Marie Madeline Dupin as a research assistant on her ambitious project to delineate in print the history of women. After years of labor by Rousseau and Madame Dupin her "Ouvrage sur les Femmes" was shelved, unfinished. The research notes, drafts, and fair copies written by Rousseau and his employer were stored at the chateau of Chenonceaux, essentially forgotten, until their sale at a series of auctions held between 1951 and 1958." (Harry Ranson Center, University of Texas)