Similarities Between Mill And Marie-Olympe De Gouges

When people think of feminism they think of the twentieth century. Feminism began before then when Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill and Marie-Olympes de Geouges wrote about it in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Each had strong opinions about feminism and one even had her life taken for the cause. “Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who asks you this question; at least you will not deny her this right. Tell me! who has given you the sovereign authority to oppress my sex?”(pg 356) In her work Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens de Gouges calls out the male sex for treating women wrong and asks for an answer. de Gouges believed that women should be treated equally to men. In her preamble she states the many

She also gives an example of a social contract between a man and a woman. In this social contract she states that every thing should be equal and in the case of a divorce everything should be divided equally. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Wollstonecraft has similar views to those of de Gouges. However Wollstonecraft’s concerns were with the rights of women against the claims of society and law. “To render this practicable, day schools, for particular ages, should be established by government, in which boys and girls might be educated together.” (pg 368) Wollstonecraft believed that boys and girls should receive their education together, which many in that day believed to be crazy. In a similar way Wollstonecraft looked at marriage like de Gouges did. They both believed it should be a mutual beneficial relationship between a man and a woman, much like a social contract. John Stuart Mill gives his argument for women in his work On the Subjection of Women. For the most part he agrees with Wollstonecraft and de