Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft

27 April 1759

10 September 1797

Writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights

• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797

Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer and passionate advocate of educational and social equality for women. She outlined her beliefs in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), considered a classic of feminism.

“A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, “Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark”, “Maria; or, The Wrongs of Woman”

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is a trailblazing feminist work which argues that the educational system deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable and that if girls were allowed the same advantages as boys, women would be not only exceptional wives and mothers but also capable workers in many professions.

Wollstonecraft was a passionate advocate of educational and social equality for women. In her works he called for the betterment of women’s status through such political change as the radical reform of national educational systems. Such change, she concluded, would benefit all society.

Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the first people to argue for gender equality, and is best remembered for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). Her work and life have been interpreted in various ways, depending on contemporary attitudes towards women's rights and the personal disposition of the writers. She is often regarded as the “mother of feminism”.

“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
“The beginning is always today.”
“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he just mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.”
“Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by time.”