A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a treatise by Mary Wollstonecraft published in 1792. Responding to the political debates of the French Revolution, it argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear so only because they are denied education. It is one of the founding works of feminist philosophy.
The argument
Wollstonecraft argues that women are rational beings and should be educated to think, not merely to please. A poor education, she says, makes them dependent and frivolous.
She calls for national schools for both sexes and for women to be able to work and support themselves.
A reply to Rousseau
The book attacks writers who saw women only as companions for men, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose Émile describes the education of the ideal wife.
It is dedicated to the French statesman Talleyrand, who had proposed a limited education for girls in France.
Reception
The book was widely read and discussed at first. After Wollstonecraft's death in 1797, her reputation suffered when her husband William Godwin published a frank memoir of her life.
It was rediscovered by the women's movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Anecdotes
Written in six weeks
Wollstonecraft wrote the Vindication in about six weeks, quickly following her earlier Vindication of the Rights of Men, a reply to Edmund Burke.
Mother of Mary Shelley
Wollstonecraft died shortly after giving birth to her daughter Mary, who later became Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.
Frequently asked questions
When was the book published?
In 1792.
What is its main argument?
That women need education to develop their reason and independence.
To whom is it dedicated?
To the French statesman Talleyrand.