A
Vindication of the Rights of Women (Prometheus's
Great Books in Philosophy Series) by
Mary
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley
A Vindication of the Rights of Women was written
during a time of revolutionary fervor, when the principle of
inalienable rights for all men had and was causing political
turmoil in the United States, France, and Britain. What Mary
Wollstonecraft did was relatively simple in premise but
complicated in reality: she applied the concept of inalienable
rights to women as well as men. Her attack on those who
perpetuate a sexual double-standard is direct and pointed:
"I must declare what I firmly believe, that all writers who
have written on the subject of female education and manners,
from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women
more artificial, weak characters than they would otherwise have
been; and consequently, more useless members of society."
Mary Wollstonecraft blasts the imbalance of power between the
sexes, pointing out that, as with governments, an imbalance of
power corrupts both the oppressed and the oppressor. She seeks
instead an education for women and men that will lead to
individuals with reason, knowledge, and virtue. An eloquent,
self-educated, and self-supporting woman, for her efforts in A
Vindication of the Rights of Women she was labeled "a
hyena in petticoats." Her writing, like most of the prose
of her time, tends to be verbose by today's standards, yet her
arguments have passion and insight that speak across more than
two centuries. -- From 500
Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister
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