Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman?

1012 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Female Education

ollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was a groundbreaking text for white, middle-class women only. Discuss.

This text by Wollstonecraft, responds to the educational theorist and politicians of the 18th century, who believed that education should not be destined for women. She strongly believes that women deserve education because of their important role in society. Her book was a response to the report that was issued by Talleyrand at the national assembly in France. This report stated that women should only be awarded an education with household’s characteristics. Wollstonecraft responded by asserting that men and women are born with the same abilities to reason, therefore they should enjoy just as much education, power, …show more content…

She wanted to improve all of education, so she argued for the innovation of national public school system that boys and girls would access equally, free from charge. The schools would be paid for by public taxes. Mary Wollstonecraft also believed that children until the age of nine be educated together, which was even more radical than anything proposed before. The idea of co-educational schooling was simply viewed as nonsense by many educational thinkers of the time. However, she argues that women will never totally free unless they learn not to be dependent on men; therefore they should attend school together. Women will learn to regard marriage as holy when brought up alongside men and grow to be their companion and not mistress. Both sexes would acquire modesty “without those sexual distinctions that taint the mind.” She states that if society is ever going to advance and become a rational democracy it needs to educate the masses. This kind of ideology would have been very innovative and groundbreaking for educational theorist, especially men who would not have thought of assembly boys and girls in the same educational system.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman covers a range of ideas relating to the condition of women. From this analysis, we can extrapolate, that Wollstonecraft’s text was an important and innovative mindset that was unusual to many men and women of that period. The beginning of the feminist ideology, the belief in a co-educational system sprung from Wollstonecraft’s

Show More
Related

  • Declaration Of Independence Summary

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    "This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves" (Wollstonecraft 63). Wollstonecraft made this statement in response to Roseau dictating that if society "[Educated] women like men..." (Wollstonecraft 63), and women would resemble the male sex, and then carry less power over men. Instead of succumbing to men, Wollstonecraft stressed how education could elevate a women to reach equal statue in society. Following similar ideas to the Tao Te Ching and the Art of War, Wollstonecraft serves education as a tool of discipline to women who can use it to help elevate them in society. Wollstonecraft points out in her introduction that, "One cause to [the problem of women sacrificing their usefulness and strength to beauty attributes] to a false system of education..." (Wollstonecraft 6), and how a reformation and push for women to better educate themselves and look past what is currently there will help them reach higher status in society; therefore giving them their own independence. As Wollstonecraft dictates, "It follows then, I think, that from their infancy women should either be shut up like eastern princes, or educated in such a manner as to be able to think and act for themselves (Wollstonecraft

    Read More

  • Comparing The Slavery Of Fredrick Douglass And Mary Wollstonecraft

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Born as a free woman in London, England Mary argued for education along with unjust laws for women that subjected them to a form of slavery. As the world around her at the time was facing a political breakthrough with the United States using idea’s formed by philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes theories in the social contract, to break free from England, she hoped the French Revolution would create an era of equality and reason. Wollstonecraft places her opinion that the condition of adult women is caused by the neglect of education for girls. Most of the essay is based on her argument for education of

    Read More

  • History of Woman's Rights rooted in Mary Wolfstonecraft's Publication Vindication of the Rigts of Women

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the issue of women’s suffrage has roots based in every country in the world, most think that the initial inroads were painfully carved through the efforts of early women pioneers in America. This perception is easily formed due to the early publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Right’s of Women in 1792. However, the movement gained national attention in New Zealand in 1893 and in Australia in 1902, eclipsing the suffrage movement in Britain, Canada and America by at least 25 years. The struggle for women’s rights has been ponderous and slow moving throughout the years and not without internal divisions.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    Setting up what might turn into a typical subject all through much women 's activist written work, Wollstonecraft directs her investigate on two fronts: from one viewpoint, she reprimands patriarchal society (as it would later be called) for the unreasonable way it restrains ladies ' rights, and also their chance for instruction, self-expression, and financial autonomy; while then again, she scrutinizes ladies for becoming tied up femininity which, in her perspective, transforms ladies into unimportant "spaniels" and 'toys '. Wollstonecraft 's answer was better instruction for young ladies, not the allowing of equivalent rights. So in this sense, one may say women 's liberation starts not with Wollstonecraft yet rather with the different Women 's Suffrage developments that sprang up in the mid

    Read More

  • Mary Wollstonecraft: The First Feminism

    121 Words  | 1 Pages

    Indisputably, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most influential figures of Enlightenment, also considered the ‘first feminist’. It is certain that her works and writing has influenced the lives of many women and altered the outlook of some societies on women, evolving rights of women a great deal from what they used to be in her time. It is clear that Wollstonecraft’s arguments and writing will remain applicable and relevant to societies for many years to come, as although there has been progression, there has not been a complete resolution. Once women receive so easily the freedom, rights and opportunities that men inherently possess, may we be able to say that Wollstonecraft has succeeded in vindicating the rights of women entirely.

    Read More

  • Mary Wollstonecraft Treatment Of Women Analysis

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay, Wollstonecraft is a woman in the 1700s, who currently experiencing inequality due gender that she was born into. During this era, women do not have many rights as a citizen, nor as a human being. Women are expected to perform household duties, such as cooking, cleaning, raising children, and being completely submissive to their husband. However, one woman had a different opinion of what a woman is capable of doing, and her name is Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary believed that woman should be treated equally as men, in the manner of education, respect, and status.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Wollstonecraft's Essay On Radical Feminism

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    A change in feminism is shown between Wollstonecraft’s essay and Young’s essay. As women first demanded rights, they were coming out of complete dependence on men. Wollstonecraft and other activists fought for the basic right of education for women. As women gained liberty, they began to oppress themselves in the Third Wave of feminism. Wollstonecraft focused on the basic rights of women in her paper, saying “They must be permitted to turn to the fountain of light, and not forced to shape their course by the twinkling of a mere satellite” (Wollstonecraft 5). Here Wollstonecraft is saying that women need to be given the opportunity to get a good education, not just be taught by what their husbands tell them, so they could be their better selves.

    Read More

  • Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft

    403 Words  | 1 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft was as revolutionary in her writings as Thomas Paine. They were both very effective writers and conveyed the messages of their ideas quite well even though both only had only the most basic education. Wollstonecraft was a woman writing about women's rights at a time when these rights were simply non-existent and this made her different from Paine because she was breaking new ground, thus making her unique. Throughout her lifetime, Wollstonecraft wrote about the misconception that women did not need an education, but were only meant to be submissive to man. Women were treated like a decoration that had no real function except to amuse and beguile. Wollstonecraft was the true leader in women's rights, advocating a partnership in relationships and marriage rather than a dictatorship. She was firm in her conviction that education would give women the ability to take a more active role in life itself.

    Read More

  • Women's Rights Movement Essay

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

    It was not until after abolitionist groups formed and began fighting slavery that women began to realize they had no rights themselves and began their own fight; therefore, the women’s rights movements of the nineteenth century emerged out of abolition activism. Without the sense of gendered ethical power that abolition provided women, any sort of activism either would never have occurred, or would have simply died out. The women’s rights movement was a way for women to seek remedy of industrialization; frustration over lack of power that lead to the call for women’s rights. Without the radical activists for abolition, like the Grimké sisters advocating for equality, a standard would never have been set and no real progress would have ever been made.

    Read More

  • Mary Wollstonecraft Feminism Analysis

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft was the spear head of feminism in early England. She brought thoughts and arguments against societal norms into the minds of many that her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, became household knowledge throughout the United States. Her writings and radical ideas gave her the nickname of the Mother of Feminism of the early feminist movement. Likewise, Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto in England. His writing aroused many thoughts focused on the class norms that existed throughout the world. Both, the Communist Manifesto and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, fight the exploitation of their respective classes and cause.

    Read More

  • How Feminism Is Portrayed in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wollstonecraft, Mary, and Mary Wollstonecraft. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ; & A Vindication of the Rights of Men. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2008. Print.

    Read More

  • Women in the Enlightenment

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women with Structures on Political and Moral

    Read More

  • Analysis of Vindication of the Rights for Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Women In Society: A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women?

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women today are still viewed as naturally inferior to men, despite the considerable progress done to close this gap. Females have made a huge difference in their standing from 200 years ago. Whether anyone is sexist or not, females have made considerable progress from where they started, but there is still a long journey ahead. Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate of women 's rights, a philosopher, and an English writer. One of Wollstonecraft’s best works was “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” (1792). In her writing, she talks about how both men and women should be treated equal, and reasoning could create a social order between the two. In chapter nine of this novel, called “Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society,”

    Read More

  • Mary Wollstonecraft

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft was a self-educated, radical philosopher who wrote about liberation, and empowering women. She had a powerful voice on her views of the rights of women to get good education and career opportunities. She pioneered the debate for women’s rights inspiring many of the 19th and the 20th century’s writers and philosophers to fight for women’s rights, as well. She did not only criticize men for not giving women their rights, she also put a blame on women for being voiceless and subservient. Her life and, the surrounding events of her time, accompanied by the strong will of her, had surely affected the way she chose to live her life, and to form her own philosophies.

    Read More

More about Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman?

Open Document