Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Mary Wollstonecraft's "The Vindication of the Rights of Woman", first published in 1792, which was a manifesto of women's rights and a call to action against the male-dominated society of her day, was far ahead of its time. The author points out that Wollstonecraft also spoke of the degraded state of the English public schools by saying that men and women must learn to broaden their minds, and to develop those faculties, which would lead to a true advance in civilization, even arguing for co-education. The paper concludes that the ideas put forth by Mary Wollstonecraft, which were transformed into a movement by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, still find their expression in free public education, greatly increased career opportunities for women and equal rights under the law, but there remains much work to be done.

From the Paper:

"Feminism, as a movement, owed its inspiration primarily to the observations and experiences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her associate, Lucretia Mott. Both were fervent abolitionists in the years before Seneca Falls. Growing out of the same set of Enlightenment ideas that had inspired Mary Wollstonecraft, the Abolitionist Movement saw the institution of African Slavery as a gross violation of basic human rights and freedoms. By means of lectures, pamphlets, and books, the Abolitionists sought to create a groundswell of public support for overturning and outlawing the practice of human bondage."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Frost, Elizabeth, and Kathryn Cullen-Dupont. Women's Suffrage in America An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File, 1992.
• Johnson, Claudia L., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
• Zink-Sawyer, Beverly A. "From Preachers to Suffragists: Enlisting the Pulpit in the Early Movement for Woman's Rights." ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) 14.3 (2000): 193.

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