In The Book of the City of Ladies Pizan created a symbolic city in which women are appreciated and defended. She constructed three allegorical figures – Reason, Justice, and Rectitude – in the Common pattern of literature in that era, when many books and poetry utilized stock allegorical figures to express ideas or emotions. She enters into a dialogue, a movement between question and answer, with these allegorical figures that is from a completely female perspective. Together, they create a forum to speak on issues of consequence to all women. Only female voices, examples and opinions provide evidence within this text. Through Lady Reason in particular Pizan argues that stereotypes of women can be sustained only if women are prevented from entering into the conversation.
While Pizan’s mixture of classical philosophy and humanistic ideals was in line with the style of other popular authors at the time her outspoken defence of women was an Anomaly. In her works she vindicated women against popular misogynist texts, such as Ovid’s Art of Love, Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose and Matheolus’s Lamentations. Her activism has drawn the fascination of modern feminists. Simone de Beauvoir wrote in 1949 that Épître au Dieu d'Amour was "the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defence of her sex".
