Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women

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Recommended: Mary Wollstonecraft in her own words

A woman’s job is to cook, clean, and bear children. Although it may not remain true now, many thought this for most of history. A woman had her duty to her husband and that served as almost all of her worth. During the Enlightenment, some women began to question this norm and to voice their unhappiness. The Enlightenment period was an intellectual movement that sought to reform society and advance knowledge (“Age of Enlightenment”). Even with all of the Enlightenment’s great advancements, women still did not possess many rights. Women continued to be “oppressed and kept to the private sphere,” separated from men (“Women in the Enlightenment”). Few women challenged these social norms, but a few existed such as Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft changed European thought on women through the writing of her essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.” Her essay proposed controversial ideas on a woman’s position as a wife, right to education, and rights in society.

During the Enlightenment, a pamphlet war began called the Revolution Controversy. Edmund Burke started the Revolution Controversy when he published an essay that sparked debate over the French Revolution. After the publication, many authors such as Wollstonecraft responded and disagreed with Burke’s views. Wollstonecraft’s response was titled “A Vindication of the Rights of Men” (“Revolution Controversy”). Two years later, she also responded to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord’s report to the National Assembly of France. His report stated that women “should only receive a domestic education” (“A Vindication”). Wollstonecraft became infuriated at this claim and quickly began to write her essay “The Vindication of the Rights of Women.” She set out...

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...pedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 11

Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. . "Timeline of Women's Rights (other than Voting)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. wiki/Timeline_of_women's_rights_(other_than_voting)>. Van Doren, Charles. A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future. New York, NY:

Ballantine, 1991. Print.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. The Vindication of the Rights of Women. Boston: Peter Edes, 1792.

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Bartleby Books, 1999. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. www.bartleby.com/144/>. "Women in the Enlightenment." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.,

17 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Enlightenment>.

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