Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir French: [simɔn də bovwaʁ] (listen) (UK: /də ˈboʊvwɑːr/, US: /də boʊˈvwɑːr/;), 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.