A Vindication of the Rights of

Woman
Overview

At a Glance
Wollstonecraft makes a passionate argument for women's rights. She
claims women have been easily oppressed because of the limited
education available to them, and she makes a forceful argument for
the ways all of society will benefit from further educating women.
About the Title
The term vindication in the title A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman means "proof something is right or correct." Wollstonecraft
believes her work proves that women have the right to education.
A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman
 Context
The French Revolution
France in the 1780s was an undemocratic nation. The French legislature, called
the Estates-General, was composed of three classes or "estates": the clergy, the
aristocracy, and the commoners. Although, commoners, many of them
peasants, made up 98 percent of the country, the clergy and nobility
consistently outvoted the commoners. When King Louis XVI summoned the
Estates-General to meet in 1789, the commoners argued for representation
based on population. The Estates-General rejected their claims, sowing the
seeds of the revolution. Peasants in France were often starving and could be
imprisoned merely on the word of a nobleman. Many of those unjustly
imprisoned were kept in the Bastille, a fortress-like building in the city of Paris.
In July 1789 peasants stormed the Bastille, freeing the prisoners. They began
attacking the nobility, seeking revenge for years of suffering. In August they
adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, an
aspirational document similar in some ways to the American Declaration of
Independence (1776). In 1791 a constituent national assembly drafted and
approved a new constitution. It was guided by some of the more moderate
voices in France at that time; it retained the monarchy but granted legislative
powers to the new Legislative Assembly.
These events transpired before and during
Wollstonecraft's writing of A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman. She viewed the French
Revolution as a positive step, an opportunity
for the common people of France to claim
control of their nation.
Women's Lives in Late 18th-Century England
• Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. At the
time women in England faced very few choices. Girls received a limited
education. A wealthy family might send their daughter to school, but she
would mainly learn skills with which to entertain and entice her future
husband. Poorer children of both genders usually received little or no
education at all. English universities, such as Oxford or Cambridge, did not
permit women to attend. This was not true in all countries; some women in
other European countries had the opportunity to attend universities, even
becoming respected scientists.
• In England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, women had no legal
rights. A girl was the property of her father until she married, at which point
she became the property of her husband. Careers were not an option for
women of good families. While women in poorer families often needed to
work to contribute to the household, the work was often unhealthy or
occurred in illegal circumstances.
• Wollstonecraft's life demonstrated many of the challenges
women faced. Her family suffered because of her father's poor
financial choices, but no one could stop him because he was
the head of the household. She needed to support herself, but
her job opportunities were limited to what she described as
the "menial" work of a governess or running her own small
school, which failed financially. She eventually found work
with a radical publisher in London, but few women would have
had the qualifications for such work. To maintain her
employment Wollstonecraft taught herself several languages
to translate texts for her employer. Wollstonecraft drew on
personal experience as well as societal attitudes in writing A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
 The Enlightenment
• Wollstonecraft was writing near the end of the Enlightenment, which was a
period of history that celebrated the rise of rational and science-based
thinking. British scientists like Isaac Newton were important contributors to
the Enlightenment. This period saw the rise of political theories that
celebrated democracy and the common man; Enlightenment ideals shaped
the politics of many leaders of the American and French revolutions of the late
18th century. Adherents often rejected involvement in organized religion,
though Wollstonecraft did not.
• English philosopher John Locke was a major figure in the Enlightenment and a
huge influence on Wollstonecraft, though he wrote almost 100 years before
the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Locke argued that
human beings had certain "natural rights" that humans earned simply by
existing. He included life, liberty, and property among those rights, which later
inspired American politician Thomas Jefferson to include "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" in his writing of the Declaration of Independence.
• Rousseau was a controversial and highly influential philosopher of the
Enlightenment. Like many Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau had arguments
with organized religion, which Wollstonecraft did not support. Rousseau
wrote about the potential for humans to live in a primitive "state of nature,"
where human altruism and goodness could thrive. Wollstonecraft seems to
believe he was advocating an actual return to that primitive state, something
most scholars agree he did not support.
• Most problematically for Wollstonecraft, Rousseau's views on the education
of women are sexist. He wrote a book called Emile (1762), in which he
describes his view of the appropriate education for a young man named
Emile and the young woman, Sophie, he will marry. Although Emile's
education is appropriately rigorous for a young man in this ideal society,
Rousseau's prescription for Sophie is she should learn how to please her
man. Rousseau argues women prefer playing with dolls and learning to sew,
so those areas should be the focus for their education rather than abstract,
complex topics. Wollstonecraft intensely disagrees with Rousseau's stance
on women's role in his ideal society.
Feminism, Sensibility, and Sexuality
• Over the years scholars have debated to what extent Wollstonecraft
qualifies as a true feminist. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she
encourages men to view women as thinking creatures but never explicitly
claims women are equal with men. Although she briefly advocates for
career options for women, she spends more time addressing how a better
education could improve women as wives and mothers. She reassures the
reader a woman can learn to think without being "masculine."
• Some of these contradictions appear in feminist writings throughout
history. Feminist writers and women in general may be conflicted over the
place of love, marriage, and sexuality in a woman's life. For all
Wollstonecraft's arguments against sensibility and sexuality, she made very
unconventional and emotional choices in her personal life, including
relationships that led her to attempt suicide and multiple sexual
relationships outside of marriage, behaviors that were scandalous in her
time.
Chapter 1 : The Rights and Involved
Duties of Mankind Considered
• Wollstonecraft begins with general principles she believes the reader
will accept. She identifies reason, virtue, and knowledge as the
elements that "distinguish the individual." She acknowledges many
flaws in the society of her time, including the servile flattery afforded to
"hereditary honors, riches, and monarchy." These things led
philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to condemn society and embrace
solitude.
• Wollstonecraft has strong disagreements with Rousseau. She claims his
"arguments in favor of a state of nature are plausible, but unsound."
She agrees with his rejection of the artifices of aristocratic society but
objects to Rousseau's celebration of "savagery." Wollstonecraft also
notes that Rousseau does not claim living as a savage produces any
particular virtues. Rousseau goes against God, she insists, and she
prefers to trust in God rather than Rousseau. The solution is the
"establishment of true civilization," she claims, rather than Rousseau's
idea of a society of man in his "state of nature."
• The real problem with society, she argues, is "arbitrary" and
"regal" power—in other words, the monarchy and aristocratic
power. With poor leadership from kings and nobles, how can the
ordinary man be wise? It is "madness" to put the lives and health
of so many under the power of a single "weak fellow creature.“
• She also criticizes professions "in which great subordination of
rank constitutes its power," calling them "highly injurious to
morality." As examples she cites a standing army, sailors and
"naval gentlemen," even the clergy and the "rules" of fashion for
gentlemen. She points out that "the character of every man is, in
some degree, formed by his profession" and argues against a
society filled with professions that force men to look foolish.
 Analysis
• This book was published in 1792, a time when the French Revolution was still in progress and
America was experimenting with setting up a democratic republic, a new constitution, and a Bill
of Rights. Wollstonecraft connects her arguments with the philosophies and politics of those
recent events, so she begins with the idea that reason, virtue, and knowledge are vital qualities.
Few philosophers of her era would disagree. In fact, her entire first chapter focuses on broader
ideas about society and monarchy rather than women's rights. This is a necessary first step to
persuade her audience, which would be other, predominantly male, intellectuals. Wollstonecraft
wants to establish herself as an intellectual, too. If the reader agrees with her on these broader
ideas, Wollstonecraft may be able to keep the reader on her side as she ventures into the far
more controversial territory of women's education.

• Still, Wollstonecraft does not play it safe in this chapter, directly attacking the controversial and
highly influential philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau had arguments with organized
religion, which may be why Wollstonecraft refers to him as "against God." He wrote extensively
about humans in a "state of nature"—that in a healthy society, humans are naturally good to
themselves and others. Wollstonecraft suggests he advocated an actual return to a primitive
state, something most scholars agree he did not do. Rousseau and Wollstonecraft disagreed in
many areas, and she will refer to him often throughout this book.
Wollstonecraft also addresses how a profession shapes a man's
view of the world. Because women were not, and could not
be, professionals, this is, by definition, a critique of men.
Wollstonecraft agreed with John Locke, the Enlightenment
philosopher whose ideas helped inspire the American
Revolution. Locke emphasized the idea of a "social contract,"
which argued governments draw their power from the consent
of the governed. Along similar lines Wollstonecraft objects to
careers that require slavish obedience rather than the ability to
think for one's self. She consistently rejects unquestioning
obedience throughout the book.