Mary Wollstonecraft as Most Valuable Thinker Mary Wollstonecraft was known as the “first feminist” and was a leader to many women during a time where woman’s rights were not important to many people. She lead woman through treacherous times filled with sexism and misogyny. During the enlightenment period, people came up with new ideas no one had thought of before and Mary was one of these people. Wollstonecraft thought women were just as important as men were and thought that women and men should be equal. Mary impacted the world with her philosophical ideas. She wrote works concerning jobs and schooling for women. To be a valuable thinker you must be able to influence many countries and bring completely new ideas to the world. Mary …show more content…
She believed that if an individual is going to develop in there life, then they would need an education, whether they were male or female. This makes her a very valuable thinker because she was smart and realized that people need education. She had the idea of equal education and at this time it was a rare thought that few people had. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most influential women in the entire world. She influenced America very strongly and many other countries. Specifically in America, she was one of the first people to give the idea of feminism, and this led to women’s rights movements. Throughout other countries, the idea of equality has spread, making women able to work any job they want. In addition to this, they can get the education they deserve, and do many other activities that do not involve staying in the household, as society dictates in those parts of the world. Western Society is constantly changing, and Mary Wollstonecraft should be accredited for that, being the pinnacle of an entire movement, making her the MVT of the enlightenment. Overall, I think Mary Wollstonecraft is a valuable thinker because she influenced the world with her new feminist thoughts, showed the world equality in education, and taught women to be confident and prove themselves equal to men. She was a leader full of new ideas and thoughts during the enlightenment
During the Age of Reason, Mary Wollstonecraft believed that “women must be allowed to be educated by the same pursuits as men” (Doc D). Aside from believing that women should be able to get the same education as men, Wollstonecraft also believed that if women were taught the same subjects as men, they will adjust quickly and become just as intelligent as men (Doc D). Women today are able to study the same subjects as men and are able to go into the same fields of study as men thanks to Wollstonecraft and many other women’s rights activists. Mary Wollstonecraft’s main idea about freedom was that women should be able to get the same education as men, which relates to the other two said branches of freedom, which were freedom of religion, and freedom of choice of
Many new ideas sprouted following the enlightenment period, but one of the dominant new ideals was women 's rights. Women do just as much if not more work than men, but are continued to be treated poorly. In order for a society to be in peace, everyone, including women should have the power to express their wants and needs. With women having equal rights it creates a better their society. Mary Wollstonecraft was a philosopher supporting the cause for women 's rights. During this time she made a huge impact on many women giving them hope
Wollstonecraft transcended the notion that she is simply expressing grievances over the unjust treatment of women establishing herself as an articulate, intellectual thinker with innovative ideas and solutions for progressing society. Through voicing her opinions, Wollstonecraft created a small revolution for women’s rights that would encourage others to begin seeking equal treatment from the men of society.
By writing the first history on the revolutionary war lots of people today would not know today what happened and how it happened. Although she may seem one of the most perfect people in the world but she did have some struggles like with liberty. And I am pretty confident that she had some struggles with writing all of her quotes and stories to make them all really well and nearly perfect. So without the wonderful Mercy Warren we would not know today about the American revolution and how the world would be without Mercy Warren, but still today we still auner her with all the amazing things that she did in the
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 also argued that people should have the same education and social freedom. “To render [make] mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes must act from the same principle; …. women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits [studies] as men.” (Doc D). Wollstonecraft believes women are seen as ignorant and inferior, but to make women equal to men, they should be allowed to study the same topics as men. As Wollstonecraft said, “Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous…” (Doc D). Women did house chores all day as men would go to school or work. When the men come home and talk about their day, the women can not have a conversation because they are not educated. To have an actual conversation, women need to be educated in the same topics as men. Wollstonecraft’s main idea was to have gender equality and social freedom. Everyone should have the freedom as an individual to be able to get educated and to speak
While men were learning language and subjects they could apply to everyday life and their jobs, women were learning how to sew. Mary Wollstonecraft fought for women rights in the education system. She concluded that men had different and/or better schooling than women through observing how society worked. She often challenged other Enlightenment thinkers to look at women and their place in the world reasonably. Mary Wollstonecraft started to pave the pathway of women rights in the world through the
Mary Wollstonecraft is still a relevant spokesperson for the feminist cause today, as her views on feminism were created to
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.
Mary was the daughter of a revolutionary author Mary Wollstonecraft who is regarded as one of the earliest feminist writers by the critics (Zimmerman, 2007, 65-123). By some of the
It is in my opinion that Mary Wollstonecraft was influenced not only by the overall treatment in society upon woman but how they were portrayed in literature and on paper; she referenced the works of a Dr. Gregory and Jean- Jacques Rousseau and how she thought their thoughts were superficial and silly. In comparison to Thomas Paine and his work of the Rights of Man, I would say him and Mary Wollstonecraft shared the same views on equality and removal of despotic hereditary based regime. Paine focused more on the overall power structure in society and Wollstonecraft focused more on its citizens and affects equality, or lack thereof, has on society. In the argument of her case, Wollstonecraft made strong arguments for fair and equal treatment of woman and men alike and even left us with a blueprint of what has become our modern public school
Mary is still recognized around the world for the influence she had on the women’s movement. One of the biggest things influenced by her was when women got the right to vote. She opened new doors for women by expressing her thoughts. When she expressed her thoughts others agreed and when she pointed out how women were treated a lot of people took action. The National Woman’s Suffrage Movement allowed only woman leadership rules. Women got more courage and went out of the ordinary to vote. In 1869, the first state granted women the right to vote and right after that other states followed. Woman thought of it as individual independence, because they are free from the control of others, meaning men. To put it bluntly, if Wollstonecraft had not fought for her beliefs many things would be different. For instance, women may not have the right to vote, may not have a good education, may not have leadership rules, or get paid equal or more than
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
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