A life and a figure of its own. Maria Zambrano and female citizenship

This essay explores the political writings by the philosopher Maria Zambrano, as well as some of her writings focused on the place occupied by women in society and culture. The aim is to determine her significance and relevance in today's current debates on women's citizenship, debates which have occupied feminism during the second half of the twentieth century. Using texts by feminist theorists such as Carol Pateman, M. Luisa Boccia, Carla Lonzi, Marisa Forcina, Francoise Collin, Lia Cigarini, Joan Scott, and Marilyn Friedman, the essay examines Zambrano's writings concerning three themes: the ambivalence and paradox of the concept of the individual, the challenge of friendship against the separation of public and private spheres, and the relationship between citizenship and work.