Mary Wollstonecraft Role Of Women

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As soon as a child is born, he or she is conditioned to demonstrate certain characteristics that are imposed on them by culture. Boys and girls are taught to have certain virtues and morals. In the essay “Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society” (1792), Mary Wollstonecraft explores the temperament of both genders. Wollstonecraft puts forward several ideas about gender and the role of women in particular. Her views about gender and the role of women, although not explicitly stated, are very pronounced throughout the essay. Although there has been countless changes regarding gender and the role of women in the past centuries, Wollstonecraft’s views of gender and the role of women are still …show more content…
The cult of domesticity has rendered women complacent, they have become slaves of societal norms. Wollstonecraft believes that women must emancipate themselves from the restraints that society and culture have placed upon them. Women have gotten too complacent, they have lost their conviction and settled for what is given to them. Wollstonecraft asserts that a woman “must not be dependent” (662) on a man for her livelihood. Wollstonecraft believes that women must, in order to break the shackles that society and culture have placed upon them, go beyond the home. Women are stuck, they have become slaves of the home, their conviction drained by the dogma that society and culture have placed. Women must reject their conventional image of weakness. Women, in order to be liberated from these ideas, must work to support themselves. Wollstonecraft asserts that if women has their own bread, then “they would not then marry for support” (664). The cult of domesticity made women dependent on men, they have become conditioned to receive everything they need. Women lost their individuality, they have lost their conviction and settled for what society has given them. Women must rise up and learn to fend for themselves, they must break the chains of the home and become integral parts of society. Women must erase the cult of domesticity and become free from the rule of society and culture. The cult of domesticity has rendered women complacent; therefore, they must emancipate

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