Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication For The Rights Of Women

Women’s rights in the enlightenment period of Europe was a topic of great contest. Women wanted the same rights as men, rights men were not willing to give up. At the forefront of this battle were two intellectuals with views that seemed to be polar opposites. On one side was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, holding the opinion that “all education of women must be relative to men” and they were created to cater towards their husband and children. Mary Wollstonecraft was of an opposing opinion, she believed that the education of women must promote “liberty and self-reliance”.

Mary Wollstonecraft adds on to her argument by comparing the way women were viewed as “insignificant objects of desire” by their male counterparts. At the time, society crafted women into physical entities for men that would provide pleasures for them at any time they wished. Without the proper education, women could do little to prove themselves to be worth more than just objects. The metaphor that Wollstonecraft utilized was key in advocating for the education of women as it represented how they were defenseless and only seen to be slaves in the eyes of men. She comparison is vital to the piece as she is stating how women were seen in her time and how there needed to be reform in order to improve their stance in society.

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.

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.

From the very beginning of her text, A Vindication of The Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft asserts the many grievances that she holds against the patriarchy and its misogyny of her society. She continually argues that aside from the realm of physical strength, women are completely equal to men. She highlights that women have the same abilities to reason and learn as their male counterparts. She strives to “persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sediment, and refinement of taste are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness” (Wollstonecraft 114). Knowing that all women are capable of great things, she pushes for an equal education system, so that women can finally put their great minds to use. Finally, she argues that women should have just as much power and societal influence as men. Hailing from two completely different texts,

In the introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft asserts that the excess or scarcity of wealth leads to a state of helplessness and is therefore arguing against the innate extremity of capitalism in terms of the advancement of women. According to Wollstonecraft:

If women are not prepared by education, they will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; because truth such as this must be common to all, or it will be counterproductive with consideration of its influence on general practice. She made the claim that society acts in a that portrays women as the insignificant gender. If women are able to become fixated on the same “immutable principle” as men, then more value will be held in every manner (2). However, if women are to be excluded “from a participation of the natural rights of mankind,” inequality and injustice will persist within individual liberties (2). Further, mankind should be viewed collectively when compared by the degree of a reason, virtue, and knowledge.

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.

OPENING STATEMENT. During the 18th Century in Europe, there were many cultural and social differences between men and women. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft confronts the many norms of the time period that was a large intellectual and cultural movement. This period of Enlightenment spread throughout Europe quickly, especially through literacy. With people such as Wollstonecraft, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the cultures of then and now are capable of tracking the norms by understanding through reason and ultimately thinking for oneself (McChesney 02/02/2015). By using logic and reason, the evaluation of the social and cultural norms during the Enlightenment are evident in the novel.

Mary Wollstonecraft, who was born during the age of enlightenment in the 18th century, is one of the most prominent feminists in women’s history. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman led her to become one of the first feminists, advocating for the rights of women. Born in a time where women’s education was neither prominent nor important, Wollstonecraft was raised with very little education. However, events in her life influenced her to begin writing, such as the way her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft treated her mother, “into a state of wearied servitude” (Kries,Steven)1. In 1792, she published Vindication on the Rights of Woman, which is one of the most prominent feminist pieces to date. This book is considered a reply to

This anger at the women’s movement is not new. It has plagued feminism throughout history. R.M Janes in her work, “On the Reception of Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” says, “Perhaps it all began over two hundred years ago when Horace Walpole called Mary Wollstone¬craft a ‘hyena in petticoats’” (Janes 299). It is not surprising anymore that not only men, but women too have become misogynistic. What is patriarchy’s biggest win is perhaps the internalization of the various norms that the society makes women live by. Bartky has explained this idea of invisible chains that women have adorned through Jeremy Bentham’s idea of the ‘Panopticon’, where quoting Foucault’s Discipline and Punishment, she says that with the “‘state

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

Throughout her manifesto, Wollstonecraft points out that if women were only taught to please men on a daily basis, men would grow tired causing the women to cheat. She also points out renowned writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Ten years before this, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had published his tell-all called Confessions. This was during the Romanticism period, a period where there was rejection of rationality and reason while in favor of feelings. There was more emphasis on subjectivity, the way the individual perceives their experience. From reading Vindication, you understand why Wollstonecraft wrote this. She claims that Rousseau’s view towards women were very double standard. He states that Women are smaller compared to men, both in their physical frame and mental frame. So because of that, they should all be submissive towards men. Thus, the prejudice of women being the weak and sensitive sex prevails. Both men and women, live their lives believing that women are weak minded. At an early age society teaches that a woman’s mind is weaker than a man’s mind, justifying it with the fact that a woman’s body is weaker than that of a man’s. This conclusion seems fully plausible, however if investigated further, one will find that that is not the case. A woman’s mind is as fully capable of reason as a man’s mind.