Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

During the late eighteenth century in western Europe, women had little to no protection under the law. Women couldn’t a lot of things not limited to signing contracts, inheriting property and even voting. Married couples were one person under the law and the legal existence of women was suspended during the marriage. However, a woman by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft felt passionate about this injustice and caused a movement by writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. In her writing, she declared that both “women and men were human beings endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” She believed women should become educated and insisted that they should be free to enter professional careers and vote if they wished to do so. The book was a significant stepping stone in the fight for women’s rights and became a feminist classic, bringing Wollstonecraft to her fame. …show more content…
Wollstonecraft seeked to persuade women to acquire strength of mind and body; and aimed to convince women that what had always been known as soft, “womanly” characteristics are not synonymous with weakness. Wollstonecraft encouraged education to be the key for women to achieve a sense of self-respect and a new self-image that could enable them to live to their full capabilities. Her work attacked Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau who denied women the basic rights that were given to men. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman created a big reaction upon its publication but was then brushed to the side for a period of time. However, today it is well known as a popular feminist