Mary wollstonecraft - the call for a revolution of female manners

Abstract

Mary Wollstonecraft is best known as the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women published in 1792. In this text, she is arguing against those who justify the suppression of women on the grounds that women are less rational and more impulsive and emotional than men. Wollstonecraft argues that all human beings, regardless of sex, are born as rational beings, and therefore have equal capabilities for rational thinking and acting. Wollstonecraft is a religious thinker and believes that God has created all humans with reason. To develop and cultivate one’s reason is therefore a duty everyone has to God. Women are not irrational by nature, but if they are denied education and basic political rights, they will become irrational and ignorant. This is precisely what happens in a society where women are oppressed. To keep women in a state of ignorance means to obstruct their opportunity to fulfill their duty to God and thereby achieve salvation. An equal right to education is Wollstonecraft ’s main concern.