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How Did Mary Wollstonecraft Wrote A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

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Jenna Gale G. Denson F World History 12 January 2023 Mary Wollstonecraft “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation” (Young). This was stated by Young, an American political and religious leader, and it accurately portrays a message that Mary Wollstonecraft firmly believed. Mary Wollstonecraft grew up with her parents and siblings. Born to her farmer father, Wollstonecraft started her working life off by becoming a teacher and a governess. In 1788 she became a translator for James Johnson, a publisher, and four years later he published Wollstonecraft's arguably greatest achievement, her pamphlet A Vindication of the Rights of Women. This was meant as a response to Reflections on the Revolutionary in …show more content…

Mary Wollstonecraft was the most influential feminist activist of 17th century Europe because of her unique view on the patriarchy, her revolutionary views on how to instill equality between woman and men, and how she paved the way for other feminist activists after her. Wollstonecraft thought that men were very important to society, but that women were underappreciated, and needed more power. She stated in her book, “my main argument is built on this simple principle, that is she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge, for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with its respect to its influence on general practice" (Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights Of Woman). Wollstonecraft's view of the patriarchy is evident in this piece, that being said she is …show more content…

In 2010, a grant called Mary on the Green, was started by a small group of volunteers in London. It took a decade to fulfill, but after ten years of fundraising, they finally raised enough money to build the statue. This shows that over 200 years after she died people are still inspired and fighting for what she believed in. Chair of the fundraiser Bee Rowlatt, speaks about Wollstonecraft's legacy, “her ideas changed the world… It took courage to fight for human rights and education for all… but following her early death… her legacy was buried, in a sustained misogynistic attack. Today we are finally putting this injustice to rights” (Rowlatt, 5). Rowlatt was supporting the idea that her legacy and ideas changed the world for the better, and impacted many people all over the world. Rowlatt also stated that her legacy was “buried”, and that was a very big reason why Wollstionecraft was often overlooked. In recent years we have again started reconizing Wollstonecraft for what she has contribute to modern day feminism. Because of how Wollstonecraft was fearless in speaking out and her bravery she was an inspiration for many years to

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Throughout "The Rights of Women," Mary Wollstonecraft carefully constructs her ethos to convince her readers of her authority on the subject matter. She begins by acknowledging her limitations, stating that she is not seeking to establish herself as an extraordinary writer but as a rational thinker with a genuine concern for the welfare of her fellow women. This humility allows her to connect with the reader and establish a shared humanity. Wollstonecraft also draws on her life experiences and intellectual capabilities to emphasize her understanding of the challenges faced by women. Her struggles with limited educational opportunities and societal expectations of women inform her arguments, making her advocacy personal and relatable.

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Wollstonecraft strongly believed,“...both sexes must act from the same principle…” (Doc D) Wollstonecraft strongly wanted both sexes to follow the same criteria and be given the same educational rights, so that women could be wiser and more virtuous. Wollstonecraft and Locke both believed that all should be equal and this supports that women are one of the groups besides religion that were not given as many rights as others. She also thought,“... women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge...to full fill their peculiar duties...to free them from all restraint…”

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In her document she claims that, “Women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men”(Wollstonecraft, On National Education). Wollstonecraft dynamically argued that if women had the right to study, they’d be able to prove they aren’t inferior by ignorance and low desires. Despite the fact that these four philosophers had contrasting ideas on how to enhance daily life, they all concentrated the same central idea. They each contributed something unique to their society, which has influenced our daily

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1792 is the year of Mary Wollstonecraft’s greatest work which produced lasting ideas and influences that continue to be relevant today. A Vindication of the Rights of Women is a continuation of Wollstonecraft’s ideas about education. She says in order to create equality for men and women, it has to be started in education. She produces the idea of a new education system where boys and girls studied together and learned the same

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Marry Wollstonecraft a woman born in 1759 in London, United Kingdom. Mary had grown up in a time where men and women were very unequal especially when it came to education. Throughout Mary’s adult life she worked as a teacher and as a governes, these had intergrated her more into the world of education and in her beliefs regarding it. Mary was very radical when it came to her beliefs during her time; she was a philosopher who focused on moral and political issues especially ones regarding womens’ education. Mary Wollstonecraft had spread her ideas regarding this using writing her most famous was published in 1792 and was called A Vindication of the Rights of Women this piece of literature talked about the belief that mean and women should have equal education, and many similar ideas about the oppression of women inteluctually.

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This influenced the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft to publish her own declaration, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, in 1792. In which, she argued for the necessity of women to be strong, intelligent, and independent in order for France to truly be the enlightened republic it aimed to become. A position bolstered by her own visit to France from 1792 to 1794 (Perry, 102). Wollstonecraft believed that women could not be independent or contributing members of society without access to some form of education. Frustrated by the a lack of improvement for women Wollstonecraft wrote, "... the neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of misery I deplore… women, in particular, are rendered weak and wretched..."

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She also reasoned that if a women knew nothing and had no education, how could it be humanely possibly that they could actually take care of children and be able to do everything in the household. With this work of art, Wollstonecraft tied together the belief that women should have rights with philosophical views. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft states that “Women, I allow, may have different duties to fulfill; but they are HUMAN duties, and the principles that should regulate the discharge of them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same. . .they are treated as a kind of subordinate beings, and not as part of the human

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Enit Stiner acknowledges, “In a Vindication of the Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft threw down the gauntlet, not only to her male readers, but equally important to the other women writers of her day, as she called for a ‘revolution in female manners’ And these women took up Wollstonecraft’s challenge.” Wollstonecraft inspired her readers to take part in this change. Stiner writes on the influence Wollstonecraft had on female readers during her time. Not long after, female readers were putting their views on paper.

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The Age of Enlightenment happened in the 18th century from 1685-1815. This is a long period of time that brought unconventional yet necessary ideas to the public’s eyes. Ideas of feminism started to be talked and argued about because of the notable and headstrong Mary Wollstonecraft. She was only 19 when she decided to be independent and who realized that education for women is crucial and needed advocacy. Her influence and passion gave her the reputation of being the “founder of feminism” (Pedersen 432).

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Although it may seem like a constant battle to some, none of these activists would have been able to do this without Wollstonecraft and her writings in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft created a base for the women’s rights movement, she framed the way women and men alike view feminism and she also changed how society views feminism. Women’s rights are human rights and Wollstonecraft made it her life’s work to get this message across. Wollstonecraft created a base for the women’s rights movement and got women thinking for themselves about what needed to change. In her time, women’s rights were absent and around the world women had to act obedient and comply with whatever the men in their lives told them to do.

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Mary Wollstonecraft was a radical Enlightenment writer. In one of her most famous literatures, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft envisions an efficacious society founded upon reason. Reason is the foundation of all intellect. If all members in society are equally intelligent, progress will be made to advance society. Wollstonecraft believes solving the disparities between women and men through an equal education is fundamental to the progression of society.

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In the book of vindication of the right of a woman, Wollstonecraft brings out clearly the roles of a woman in her society and how it has led to oppression of women (Wollstonecraft 22). Wollstonecraft believes that men and women are equal given the same environment and empowerment, women can do anything a man can do. In her society, education for women is only aimed at making her look pleasing to men. Women are treated as inferior being and used by men as sex objects. Wollstonecraft believed that the quality of mind of women is the same with that of men, and therefore women should not be denied a chance for formal education that will empower them to be equal with men.

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Week after week, Mary Wollstonecraft’s publisher, Joseph Johnson, welcomed women and men to his home to discuss their new world philosophy. Wollstonecraft and her radical associates loved to talk and argue about these pursuits. For Wollstonecraft, the development of the political state depended on women's education for the care of the family, including the care of the female self. Wollstonecraft states that besides teaching women natural science, “it was likewise proper” to make “women acquainted with the anatomy of the mind.” In a time that saw philosophers scrupling with a moral hesitation about "the knowledge most useful to man" and, implicitly, the knowledge most useful to women, she sought to promote the viability of women as thinking people, based on ideas from the material body and mind that she gathered from her medical experience and reading in the natural sciences.

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Mary Wollstonecraft’s A vindication of the rights of women written in 1792 can be considered one of the first feminist documents, although the term appeared much later in history. In this essay, Wollstonecraft debates the role of women and their education. Having read different thinkers of the Enlightenment, as Milton, Lord Bacon, Rousseau, John Gregory and others, she finds their points of view interesting and at the same time contrary to values of the Enlightenment when they deal with women’s place. Mary Wollstonecraft uses the ideas of the Enlightenment to demand equal education for men and women. I will mention how ideals of the Enlightenment are used in favor of men but not of women and explain how Wollstonecraft support her “vindication” of the rights of women using those contradictions.

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While efforts toward women’s civil rights had been made in previous centuries, large scale movements known as feminism began to truly gain ground in the 19th century. The beginnings of feminism, commonly defined as work toward the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, are often attributed to Mary Wollstonecraft in her book The Vindication of the Rights of Women, published in 1792. The ideas spread by Wollstonecraft inspired many more prominent figures and works to emerge throughout the 1800s. The feminist movement was especially prevalent in Great Britain, where women such as Josephine Butler and writings like A Room of One’s Own and The Subjection of Women worked and spread awareness. While women’s political rights in 19th century Great Britain were improving, the social attitudes worked in the

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