A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman By Mary Wollstonecraft

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During the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their “place” in society and demand change to the British social order. While these changes did not happen quickly, her work sparked the feminist movements through its unique message and called upon women to demand equality through the Match Girls Strike and Women’s Suffrage

In addition to education, Wollstonecraft brings the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the reader’s attention because he claims that women should not feel independent, and they should be a man’s companion. “…In 1792 the British writer Mary Wollstonecraft directly confronts Rousseau’s views of women and their education…” This “initiated a debate that echoed throughout the centuries followed.” Even today, this debate is still prevalent among both young and old people.

The eighteenth century brought about a great deal of change and a new-found interest in science and reason. Because of this, many great inventions, ideas and innovative theorists arose from this time period. Among them was a forward-thinking essayist by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft preaches her belief that the oppression of women is largely due to lack of female education. Although the term "feminism" wasn’t coined until decades later, Wollstonecraft paved the way for future women’s rights movements by advocating equality in education for women. She believed men and women should be equal in the very basic aspects of life, such as in loyalty in marriage. Wollstonecraft

She was a mother, a moral and political philosopher, a writer, and a feminist. Mary Wollstonecraft was the ideal image of what represented the push towards modern feminism. Some may even consider her as the founding mother of modern feminism itself. Much of Wollstonecraft’s literature is influenced by her own life experiences. In 1785, Wollstonecraft took on an employment opportunity as a governess. While spending most of her time there, she had a moment of epiphany where she realized that she was not suited for domestic work. Soon after, she returned to London and became a translator and wrote for a well-known publisher and discovered her love of writing. Eventually, years later she was then able to publish her most notable work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is still a very popular book which can be seen as a guide to becoming a better citizen and understanding feminism in a critical context. This essay will argue that Mary Wollstonecraft is still relevant to the feminist cause today as her views portrayed in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are still relatable to many of the feminist issues that currently exist around the world. This essay will do so by comparing how her views in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman can still be used as guiding principles to tackle feminist matters.

Everyone should be treated as equals. However, in Mary Wollstonecraft’s era, women did not have the same equal rights as men. It was a time period of sexism and double standards. In her work Vindication of the Rights of Women, she argues and defends for the equality of women. Wollstonecraft believed that everyone has the ability to reason and learn; therefore women should be able to receive the same amount of necessities involving proper education, support, attitude, respect, etc., that are needed in order to accomplish goals as any other person, in this case, men. As of today in the 21st century, Wollstonecraft would be disappointed due to the amount of disrespect society contributes on women, as well as some women who have no respect for their own self-worth. In order to improve, changes must start from within.

The Declaration of Independence represents justice, equality, and natural human rights. Written to liberate American citizens from British control, the document stood for the colonists to live as freely as they wished. As grand as this document is, the pronouns and terminology used throughout this document is in the eye of controversy when the rights and status of women become involved. Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Women, is a major forerunner of the Women’s Rights Movement. Comparing her work to the Declaration of Independence, it can be seen that Wollstonecraft’s ideas can be served as a critique against the masculinity put forth in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration makes numerous remarks recognizing only the rights of men. This excluded women from being recognized in the Declaration.

First, in the Vindication Of Women's rights, the author Mary Wollstonecraft mainly argued for equal rights in women's education. Wollstonecraft notes “ To pressure personal beauty, women glory; the limits and faculties are cramped with worse than Chinese bands, and the sedentary life

Firstly, Wollstonecraft argues that women lack the worthy object that “sufficient serious employment” (The Rights of Men and The Rights of Woman, 194) furnishes. Accordingly, the premise of Vindication, suggests the duties of the female, are influenced by

The Age of Enlightenment encouraged writers to break away from conventional thought and express their ideas and opinions through reasoning. Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” and Marquis de Sade’s “Philosophy in the Bedroom” examine the conventional norms in their respective author’s contemporary societies. In both accounts, Wollstonecraft and Sade prescribe the path humanity should take in order to improve the human condition.

in the government of the physical world it is observable that the female in point of strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of Nature; and it does not appear to be suspended or abrogated in favour of woman. A degree of physical superiority cannot, therefore, be denied, and it is a noble prerogative! (Wollstonecraft, 111).2

Mary Wollstonecraft’s, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, is another example in which an Enlightenment author exhibits their opinion on the education and purpose of women. Contradictory to Rousseau’s writing, Wollstonecraft believed that women have a greater purpose than to serve man, and that is to be independent and care for others while they also care for themselves. She stated that unlike in Emile, women should be seen as and act independently and take care of themselves. She believed that women are not on this Earth for the purpose of serving men, and that they can stray away from these duties if they wish. Education wise, Wollstonecraft believed that a woman should not be limited to caring for their families, but may choose to pursue a higher learning, such as nursing and healing. But, she also said that caring for their children and husbands is not to be seen as a lesser job that women take part in, and that it is to be respected. Although Wollstonecraft incorporated some

As one of the earliest feminist writers, Mary Wollstonecraft faced a daunting audience of critics ready to dispel her cry for the rights of women. Her powerful argument calling for equality in a society dominated by men was strong, and her ideas withstood a lot of criticism to become one of the most important feminist texts. Her argument was simple and illustrates a solution to the inequality in society. The foundation of this argument is the idea of education and how independent thought is necessary to live a virtuous and moral life. In the present state of society, women are seen as inferior to men and held in a state of ignorance. The worst effect of this

In Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she addressed many issues for women regarding civil rights and the expectations that were held for them at the time. “…men have… been led by viewing education in a false light; not considering it as the first step to form a being advancing gradually towards perfection; but only as a preparation for life.” (Wollstonecraft 58). Essentially, Wollstonecraft implied that men interpreted education only as a means of learning how to live life. In accordance with such an interpretation, women were only allowed to learn how to be wives and mothers. Wollstonecraft also stated her own perspective as to what education needed to be perceived as in contrast to what it was believed to be. After the large uproar that A Vindication of the Rights of Woman created, Wollstonecraft’s writing inspired many other female writers to join the fray.

Wollstonecraft’s early life was, by modern standards, quite miserable. She was born as the second child on April 27, 1759 into a relatively poor family, and her father was an abusive alcoholic who often beat her mother. Her mother favored her older brother Edward over her- Wollstonecraft was never praised for anything that she did, even though she often protected her mother from her father’s attacks. These blatant injustices helped her to learn from an early age to be independent and to not depend on anyone, and this want for independence would follow her into adulthood (Ferguson and Todd 1). After seeing her mother’s unhappy state, she began to hate that marriage was unequal and unbalanced in power, which led her to avoid marriage until she was 38. Most of the male figures in her early life were unreliable and unjust, and she realized that she would have to rely on herself.