For most of the history of Chinese poetry, female poets were given a subordinate position, and their works were rarely considered masterpieces and passed on to later generations. However, this rigid thinking began to change in the late Ming Dynasty. More women began to write poems and songs at that time, and collections of their works were published. While this shift has received increasing attention in scholarly circles during recent years, there has yet to be any in-depth research conducted on the Shih hua 詩話 (poetry talk) books of the late Ming, which include commentaries on women's poetry by both male and female writers. These Shih hua books thus show that women were not only writing more poetry, but also playing an active role in the realm of poetry criticism. Two works which best illustrate this trend are Kung- kui shih-ping 宮閨詩評 (Commentaries on Maiden Poetry), by Chiang Ying-ke 江盈科, and Kuei-hsiu shih-ping 閨秀詩評 (Commentaries on Court Ladies' Poetry), by Fang Wei-yi 方維儀 . The former is the first Shih hua work to focus on women's poetry, and the latter is the first commentary on women's poetry by a female critic. In the present paper, the author uses these two Ming Dynasty Shih hua works to explore the position of women in the history of Chinese poetry.