More than 70 years ago, the French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908—86) published her groundbreaking work Le deuxième sexe (The Second Sex), in which she took stock of the status of women, their experience of the world and cultural conditions. The comprehensive sweep of her treatise made her into an early icon of the feminist movement and caused a scandal when it was released in 1949. It ultimately became a reference work for second-wave feminism and represents a milestone in the debate on female autonomy and emancipation. A marathon reading of this manifesto for equality will explore its relevance for today’s society.