with that background the question
is : How did a few women - very few -, succeed
in escapinf from the imposed role for their
sex? You discover that they had ONE
feature in common : they didn't depend on
a man, father or husband, they were entitled
to solitude and free time, for ≠ reasons they were loosa
from the bonds of family, marriage,
motherhood.

One discovers that these remarkable 
wmn were either widows, neglected
or separated wives, either nuns, either
single, described under the scornful name
of spinsters. either lesbians, as was the
first of all wmn to leave her name to posterity
SAPPHO, the freek poet of 5th century BC.
I will briefly quote a few famous names you may
not have heard of them not being french...
But I am sure that in every country, one
can draw up a similar list.

I will mention Héloïse, a 12th century nun. 
Mme de Lafayette, whose husband never lived
with her. Author of one of the most famous novels
in the 17th. Mme de Maintenon (widow - L.XIV) Mme
de Sévigné, widow. George Sand of course, divorced
very young and who took care not to remarry,
which left her free of writing more than 30 books
of having a passionate life (Musset Chopin) and political 
engagements