Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

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

These women faced several societal constraints and long held beliefs about the role of women in their era. At that time the societal belief was that women where intellectually inferior to men and responding to this judgement, male psychologists attempted to develop theories about what could happen to women if they did try to enter higher education.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous book, Vindication of the Rights of Women, is “one of the earliest expressions of a feminist consciousness.” Wollstonecraft claims that women are upset mainly due to the fact that they are not receiving the education they deserve, and goes on to explain how women are notorious for being weak, and mentally unstable. She blames the education system for this since all the books are written by men, and they claim that women are barley humans and are treated as another species. She questions the eligibility of men to claim they are better than women. A useful education, in her opinion, is one that teaches students how to be strong and independent. Her directed audience is anyone who is unsure of the true definition and meaning of feminism. Wollstonecraft believes that all humans are capable of the same intelligence, no matter the gender. Her overall idea is that every individual, both male and female, deserve equality.

To Wollstonecraft, not educating females in the same manner as males is the greatest set back to women. Female education would help level the playing field between women

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman addresses the causality between a lack of education and a lack of reasonability. She advocates for virtue through reason, rather than virtue over reason. Wollstonecraft argues that the minimal freedom of women has limited their view on life, and thusly, their potential intelligence. In fact, she stipulates “all the difference that I can discern, arises from the superior advantage of liberty, which enables the former [man] to see more of life.” Through this greater exposure to the world, Wollstonecraft argues that man holds greater capacity for the development of a thoughtful mind. She extends this reasoning when asserts that a female who attempts to grow her intellect is quickly quashed through deflection to a life of domestic rules and behavior. Wollstonecraft asserts, “if they have natural sagacity it is turned too soon on life and manners.” In summary, this piece of literature contends that women are shaped into subservient individuals who lack the capacity for original thought and discourse. This is portrayed in her comparison of women to a soldier. “[T]hey may well be disciplined machines, but they seldom contain men under

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.

In her next chapter, Kerber examines the newfound need for the educating of women. Women were not allowed freedom or a political opinion, but they could not be completely pushed aside. For years women had been taught that education made them undesirable to men and educated women were scorned. Kerber argues that a new need for

“The wretchedness of an empty brain is perhaps as hard to bear as an empty purse, and a heart without hope is as cheerless as a fireless grate” (Cobbe 80). Women are expected to be a teacher for their children and educate them

In Wollstonecraft’s work, she addresses the differences between men and women as being something that should be considered negligible, but instead is used to practically enslave one half of the population. The work details how women are akin to playthings when they lack an education, and that for her to truly be herself and practice her own free will, she must be knowledgeable. However, there are many different kinds of education, Wollstonecraft points out. Men received a formal education, consisting of a proper teaching of many subjects, while also aiding the young men in personal growth. Women, on the other hand, received a much less formal education. In their day to day lives, women observed, they leeched off

. “that a little knowledge of human weakness”. . . “softness of temper”. . . and “outward obedience”. . . “will obtain for them protection of man”. However, if these women should “be beautiful, everything else is needless, for at least, twenty years of their lives” (Chap II. The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed, 1792, p. para. 2). Wollstonecraft implies that men are fickle creatures who after time of beauty in women passes, the man moves on in search of new lust in a younger creature. Furthermore, in three principles, Wollstonecraft defines what characteristics make men and woman

Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the rights of woman after reading Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly, which stated that women should only receive a domestic education. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a treatise on overcoming the ways in which women in her time are oppressed and denied their potential in society, with concomitant problems for their households and society as a whole. Rooting her argument that women deserve an education equal to men's on the human duty to use God's gift of reason, Wollstonecraft set traditional gender roles. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman written by the 18th-century British proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy.

From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft is covering the importance that women should have education in the eighteenth century. In her Vindication of the Rights of Women it was a response towards Rousseau. She explains how philosophers like Rousseau were so intelligent however they ignored the fact that women need to seek education as well. Wollstonecraft gives her reasons on why women should value education in their lives and how it is beneficial. It is crucial that women provide themselves with an education because knowledge will allow them to overcome the burden that men set on them.

Wollstonecraft responds in Vindication of Rights of Women by stating that society is to blame for women's degrading character and status. The cultural conditions were also to blame as well. Because of the society and culture, women's education

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

The late 18th century can be known as the historical period of the Enlightenment. During this time, society was undergoing drastic changes that would impact people even today. These changes were known as “reforms,” and played a big role in politics and ruling during this time period. One of the bigger reforms of this time was that which would grant women a higher education and place them in a position closer to their male counterparts. The enlightenment authors, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft, took part in a debate in which they argued about the purpose and education of women. In an article recently written in The New York Times by Nicholas