Paper read at the Colloque International “Penser le Genre: Theorica 4”, Lyon, 4-5 noviembre 2015 (http://tinyurl.com/phhybpp). Through the examples of some passages from Francesc Eiximenis’ Terç del Crestià and the Llibre de les dones (in which this Franciscan spiritualist quotes and uses the debate on women), the author issues a caution on this subject: one shouldn’t take the use of misogynistic or profeminist topics by medieval (male) writers as proof of a sincere engagement, but instead should contemplate its function in a broad context.