Review Of 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

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.

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 Key points presented by Mary Wollstonecraft in a vindication of the rights of woman, with structures on political and moral subjects focuses on women’s rights throughout the book, she was seen as the mother of feminism throughout the decades, claiming women ought to have education to succeed in society, arguing that women should have the same rights as men do. Wollstonecraft illustrates four key concerns in her story of the rights of woman, the four key concerns are reason, education, equality and socially constructed woman, and I personally think Wollstonecraft’s main concern in the story was the issue of education she pushed for women to obtain a good education ultimately believing education is the salvation for women. Wollstonecraft claims that education for women is equivalent to slavery, suggesting that men and women should be educated as moral beings and guided by reason then they can become virtuous and fulfill their appropriate roles (Garside Lecture

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,

Vindication of the Rights of Women, written in 1792, by Mary Wollstonecraft, is primarily an argument for education for women of Wollstonecraft’s time while critiquing other writers of the time and enumerating the rights of people in general. Wollstonecraft believed that without educated women, society itself would begin to disintegrate because if women are, “not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue, for truth must be common to all” (8). By being companions rather than simply husband and wife, Wollstonecraft believes that marriages would become more stable than in the past and in turn, if widely adopted, this stability would manifest at the state level.

In Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of a Woman she argues that women deserve the same opportunities, especially educational opportunities, as men. Wollstonecraft lived in a time where a woman’s role was to find a husband and raise a family. However, she believed that women were not even being prepared for those roles. Instead of being prepared to be “affectionate wives and rational mothers”, they were trained to be “alluring mistresses” (6). This did nothing to change society. As a solution she suggested an education system where young boys and girls of all socioeconomic classes were educated together, in a school system that focused on teaching them how to think rather than just memorizing the material (169).

This is a prime example of the accepted subordination that women were to exemplify, and this "reappears often in European men's writings about women" (Anderson and Zinsser xiv). But not all women were willing to accept this fate; some wanted more to come of their lives and empower others to give significance to their lives, despite the limits and restrictions presented by their gender. If a woman were to rule over men and voice her opinions, as Wollstonecraft did, she was deemed “unwomanly” in the eyes of society. This is best expressed by the Encyclopedias of the 18th century which depicted men and woman as opposites. “Women were emotional; men were rational; women were passive; men were active. Women were gentle; men were aggressive. A woman’s virtues were chastity and obedience; a man’s courage and honor. Women were meant for the home; men for public life” (Anderson and Zinsser 143). The notion of Wollstonecraft voicing her opinion in this group was truly unheard of in this time period. Unlike other woman of her time, Mary Wollstonecraft stood out for her ideals because she "urged that women be more serious, more charitable, and more moral" (Anderson and Zinsser 123). When Wollstonecraft attended

With her audience comfortable and trustful, she begins writing about the prejudice and restrainment of women’s rights. However, she continues to gain the conviction of the reader and avoids conflict by not entirely blaming the “opposing side” (in this case hypothetically men) for the problem. Instead, she describes a fault of women, but additionally adds that men share the same fault. By this

Feminist role models are not limited to queens and rulers, but can also be found in women who were simple citizens. Although she was not a queen, Mary Wollstonecraft knew who she was. Mary endured a childhood with an abusive father who favored on of her brothers over her. She went on to write about equality and sexism in A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Other writings of hers were about the equality she believed women and men deserved and, consequently, she not only wrote about those beliefs but she acted on them as well. Wollstonecraft, fearless of what society would think of her, did what she felt like doing. The woman had an affair, attempted suicide, and had an illegitimate child with a man she would come to marry. Though what she

Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" is her most famous and influential work. It reflects her pioneering vision as well establishes her as one of the early and leading feminist of her time. She refused the way the society view women as inferior beings just because of they are not men, and argues that women should have equal education opportunities as men. Moreover, she attacked the principles upon which the society raises women. She refused that women are only taught how to be the perfect housewives, and to captures men’s attention using there beauty. Thus women thought of nothing but how to please first their fathers and later on their husbands. She also stressed that fair chances to all kinds of professions should

Wollstonecraft idealized vision of family life is compatible with women liberation as her actions have been working towards gaining the same equal rights men have, for women in society. Wollstonecraft published a book ‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’ to portray her views towards gender inequality and expressed key ideas about how this affected women in society. Her views towards the idea of marriage and motherhood in the late eighteenth century, stated that there needed to be a change and that women should be given equal rights to men (reference).

Wollstonecraft is not advocating for physical equality because in terms of nature, men are built in a more superior manner. However, one’s mind was not built to be superior or inferior depending on one’s sex. Wollstonecraft states that men have caused women’s minds to be, “rendered weak and wretched” due to the stereotypes that became embedded in minds and cultures for hundreds of years.

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

A wise man once said “Man is only great when he acts from passion.” When you hear the word passion, the first thing that might come to your mind is something related to love, and you’re not entirely wrong. According to Merriam- Webster’s dictionary, passion is defined as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something or a strong feeling (such as anger) that causes you to act in a dangerous way. All in all, it is a strong feeling, be it happiness, sadness, anger or liberality. You can be passionate about many things such as love, sports, food, or intimacy. However, it can also mean having a strong yearning for something.