Final answer:
Understanding the exclusion and discrimination against women during the Enlightenment is key to deepening our historical understanding and recognizing the complexities of societal progress in terms of gender equality and human rights.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is important to understand the exclusion and discrimination faced by women during the Enlightenment to deepen historical understanding. Throughout history, women's roles have been frequently marginalized, and this was also the case during the Enlightenment, an era marked by the pursuit of knowledge, freedom, and equality. Comparing the role of women during the Enlightenment to their role in other periods, such as in Athenian society during the Age of Pericles, shows that despite some progress in areas like intellectual debates where figures like Émilie du Châtelet made contributions, the status of women did not always align with the era's ideals of equality and freedom, as many thinkers still promoted gender biases and relegated women to subordinate positions. This discrepancy between Enlightenment ideals and the reality for most women reveals a complexity within the period that enriches our understanding of how societal structures evolve and how progress in human rights and equality can be understood in a broader context.