A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft has been called the "first feminist" or "mother of feminism." Her book - length essay on women's rights, and especially on women's education, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1972), is a classic of feminist thought, and a must - read for anyone who wants to understand the history of feminism. She is usually considered a liberal feminist because her approach is primarily concerned with the individual woman and about rights. I've decided to describe Wollstonecraft because she was the first woman fighting for equality and women's education. Besides, I find it intriguing that Wollstonecraft's daughter's book, Frankenstein, can be considered as an argument against isolating women from the process of creating a new life.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a participant in and observer of a remarkable series of social revolutions. One was Enlightenment thought in general: a skepticism about and revisioning of institutions, including the family, the state, and educational theory. However, these ideas seemed in stark contrast to the realities of women's lives. Abuse of women was close to home. She saw little legal recourse for the victims of abuse. This contrast motivated Wollstonecraft to write her 1792 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The main idea of this book was that "through education would come emancipation."

For Mary Wollstonecraft, the public life and domestic life are not separate, but connected. The home is important as it forms a foundation for the social life. Men have duties in the family and women have duties to the state. Besides, educating women will strenghten the marriage relationship as it is a partnership and a woman thus needs equal knowledge and sense.

Nowadays feminism is wrongly equated with being an excuse to unreasonably blame men in general for something that only some men are responsible for. I truly endorse the idea of the global conversation about women's issues and the necessity for changes in this field. Therefore I consider Wollstonecraft's activity a milepost in the history.