Mary Wollestonecraft
Mary WollestonecraftMary Wollestonecraft, otherwise known as the “enlightenment rebel” raised many eyebrows in her time. Her thoughts and ideas about women’s rights gave oppressed females everywhere a chance to think for themselves. She brought the discrimination of women socially, educationally, and politically to the attention of people and raised the awareness of women’s rights.
Socially, during the 18th century, men believed women should not have any independence. Constantly taught to be dependent on men, woman developed the stereotype of ignorant and innocence. According to Mary, women in this time were creatures designed for “sweet attractive grace, and docile blind obedience.” In other words, women were put on this earth as objects that are to obey and please men.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollestonecraft demanded that society recognize the female half of the human race. At times, she made a comparison of women to slaves, in that they were simply property, there to do whatever the man pleases. She did not ask for more power than man, for she believed that the rights of man and of woman were to go hand in hand. Tired of relying on men for money as well, Mary was the first to apply the term “legal prostitution” to marriage. By doing this, she expressed her belief that total financial dependence robbed both people of dignity and made it almost impossible for women to be independent. As far as serving men, she believed that women were humans before they were sexual beings, and one must observe the mind rather than the body. The mind is what makes you a real person, and cannot be classified as male or female. This relates to her ideas about education, which she feels has a strong connection to the discrimination of women.
The role of education in children’s lives was vital to their future. Girls were taught to be dainty, fearful, and dependent on man for most everything. Mary believed this should change by encouraging young girls to develop their minds, nourish ambitions and exercise their bodies, instead of focusing on the traditional roles of women. She also supported coeducational schools, because by doing activities exactly as boys, girls would develop equal capacities and talents. This early training will lead to strong, successful, independent woman in the future, and in fact, it did. Mary started the trend of women sticking up for their rights, and today they have much more freedom and opportunities.
Politically, Mary raised awareness of the woman’s position with the government. She believed that women should take interest in politics with a view to parliamentary representation. She demanded the room be made for women at the conference table of revolutionary liberalism. Mary felt women had the ability to be reasonable and rational in making decisions, and they should have say in events taking place in their government as well. In Mary’s mind, civil and political rights belonged to women just as much as men.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman had extreme persuasive power over the women in the 18th century. As Percy Bysshe Shelley once said, “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. In the time of Mary Wollestonecraft, women did not have many influential figures. Such feminist writers brought up the major issues that needed to be dealt with. By reading the works of these famous writers, attention was raised towards a problem that exploded into a huge campaign for women’s rights. Mary Wollestonecraft exemplifies the influential power that authors and poets hold over the major issues in society.