Compare And Contrast Rousseau And Wolltonecraft

965 Words4 Pages

During the Enlightenment people changed the way they thought of culture and took a scientific approach to almost everything. People began to think critically about what lies around them and started to counter their beliefs with scientific approaches. Everything was not perfect during the Enlightenment, even though many things improved for some; people were still prejudiced towards others. Women were not acknowledged as someone who could be educated or work, while “men had many opportunities: for education, for service in government or diplomacy, for the exercise of political and economic power” (The enlightenment 2). Contrasting the writings of Rousseau and Wollstonecraft we are able to identify how each of them feels towards the treatment of women in society. Throughout the Enlightenment women were considered to be less than men and would never be able to achieve or do what men could. “Women were expected to be in the private sphere while the men were in the public sphere”(The Enlightenment 4). Rousseau believes men and women should not be compared because “A perfect women and a perfect man should resemble one another neither in mind nor in face, and perfection admits of neither less nor more”(Rousseau 1). Men and women should not resemble each other in any way, including appearance and actions. Rousseau believes the perfect …show more content…

Over time women began to receive more rights and were able to have a say in society. Though it took a lot of time to achieve equality between men and women it has been achieved and women are now able to vote, hold office, and own a business. Even in today’s society some women are still treated inferior to men. One example is equal pay for equal work. Women and men who do the same work should be paid the same but this isn’t always the case. Over time I believe this problem will be addressed appropriately and will be finally