> how would jefferson feel about the equality that women experience now?

It seems safe to say that Jefferson would feel quite comfortable with the
equality that women experience today, GIVEN THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF TODAY.
The point is, he always viewed women as well as everyone else, even
including slaves, as persons entitled to natural rights.  But the exercise
of anyone's natural rights is necessarily affected by the social conditions
under which that person lives.  The women of Jefferson's time, just like the
children of every time, were in a dependent situation.  That was the way
society functioned in that day.  Notice in the passage below from his
writings, he recognizes the way the social condition of women prevented them
from acting independently, just as the social condition of slaves prevented
them from doing so.  He was opposed to the institution of slavery, but the
institution must go before the social conditions which the institution
fostered would change, and that kind of change is a very complicated
process.

"Were our State a pure democracy, in which all its inhabitants should meet
together to transact all their business, there would yet be excluded from
their deliberations, 1. Infants, until arrived at years of discretion. 2.
Women, who, to prevent depravation of morals and ambiguity of issue, could
not mix promiscuously in the public meetings of men. 3. Slaves, from whom
the unfortunate state of things with us takes away the rights of will and of
property. Those then who have no will could be permitted to exercise none in
the popular assembly; and of course, could delegate none to an agent in a
representative assembly. The business, in the first case, would be done by
qualified citizens only." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME
15:71

But Jefferson fully recognized that society was in a state of constant
change.  He thought his society treated women much better than the barbarous
socities that preceded it treated them, as he expresses in this passage:

"With [every barbarous people], force is law. The stronger sex imposes on
the weaker. It is civilization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment
of their natural equality, that first teaches us to subdue the selfish
passions, and to respect those rights in others which we value in
ourselves." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:84

Moreover, Jefferson made allowances for the CONTINUED advances in society,
as expressed in this passage:

"When I contemplate the immense advances in science and discoveries in the
arts which have been made within the period of my life, I look forward with
confidence to equal advances by the present generation, and have no doubt
they will consequently be as much wiser than we have been as we than our
fathers were, and they than the burners of witches." --Thomas Jefferson to
Benjamin Waterhouse, 1818. ME 15:164

The problem is, many people fault Jefferson for not fighting back then for a
society just like ours today.  That is called "presentism," and tries to
impose the same values and standards on people in the past that we have
today.  It is a very unsophisticated way of looking at the development of
society.





> I've been browsing your website for hours and I find it very interesting.  I
> read your answer on Women's Rights and Jefferson, however my friend and I are
> still in a debate. Was Jeffferson including women in his statement (and other
> writings when referring to men) that "all men are created equal.." I was just
> curious of what your opinion is based on your knowledge of his writings.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jefferson was using the term "men" to
mean all of mankind, i.e., all human beings including women.  Moreover, the
phrase "all men are created equal" does not mean that all mankind have the
same appearance or the same characteristics.  Rather, it refers to the fact
that all human beings possess Natural Rights equally.  As can be seen from
the following quotation, Jefferson obviously considered women as sharing in
the "natural equality" to which the phrase "all men are created equal"
refers:

"With [every barbarous people], force is law. The stronger sex imposes on
the weaker. It is civilization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment
of their natural equality, that first teaches us to subdue the selfish
passions, and to respect those rights in others which we value in
ourselves." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:84