What Mary Wollstonecraft thinks about gender equality
English moral and political philosopher (1759 to 1797); author of A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).
Mary Wollstonecraft did not write this page.
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9 dated positions, c. 1787 to c. 1792, in their own words. Our reading of what Mary Wollstonecraft has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingNot content with their physical advantage, men lower women further to make them merely alluring
Their wordsBut not content with this natural pre-eminence, men endeavour to sink us still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingEnlarging women's minds would end blind obedience, which is why tyrants keep women ignorant
Their wordsStrengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience; but, as blind obedience is ever sought for by power, tyrants and sensualists are in the right when they endeavour to keep women in the dark, because the former only want slaves, and the latter a play-thing.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingWomen, like oppressed men, are degraded by preferring present pleasure to the struggle for freedom
Their wordsWomen, I argue from analogy, are degraded by the same propensity to enjoy the present moment; and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsI do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingReason is necessary for a woman to perform any duty properly, and sensibility is not reason
Their wordsYet, and I appeal to experience, if by neglecting the understanding they are as much, nay, more attached from these domestic duties, than they could be by the most serious intellectual pursuit, though it may be observed, that the mass of mankind will never vigorously pursue an intellectual object, I may be allowed to infer, that reason is absolutely necessary to enable a woman to perform any duty properly, and I must again repeat, that sensibility is not reason.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingWithout mistaken notions of beauty, women could gain enough strength to earn their own living
Their wordsMen have superiour strength of body; but were it not for mistaken notions of beauty, women would acquire sufficient to enable them to earn their own subsistence, the true definition of independence; and to bear those bodily inconveniences and exertions that are requisite to strengthen the mind.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsIt has long since occurred to me, that advice respecting behaviour, and all the various modes of preserving a good reputation, which have been so strenuously inculcated on the female world, were specious poisons, that incrusting morality eat away the substance.
↗A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsNo employment of the mind is a sufficient excuse for neglecting domestic duties, and I cannot conceive that they are incompatible. A woman may fit herself to be the companion and friend of a man of sense, and yet know how to take care of his family.
↗Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsThere are quite as many male coquets as female, and they are far more pernicious pests to society, as their sphere of action is larger, and they are less exposed to the censure of the world.
↗Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book