A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1169choice in her argument here, a choice that modern-
day readers may find especially thought-provoking.
Feminism of the 20th and 21st centuries tends to
make the argument that women are always and
everywhere the equals of men, which should be
reflected in society. Wollstonecraft does not move
in that direction. Instead, she implies that while
women, like men, are children of God, and thus
born equal, society literally makes them inferior.
She claims that in their bound state, women are not
capable of true goodness, and she asks, “For how can
a being be generous who has nothing of its own? Or
virtuous, who is not free?” By allowing that women,
in general, are not now the equals of men, she cir-
cumvents the argument that might be made against
her, that women do not have the temperament or
intelligence to serve society in the same ways that
men do. Wollstonecraft argues that this tempera-
ment and lack of intelligence are created by society,
not inherent within women.
Wollstonecraft also refrains from fully blaming
men for this state of affairs, another clever move
that helps to win over her audience (which would
have been overwhelmingly male). She says, “Men are
not aware of the misery they cause, and the vicious
weakness they cherish, by only inciting women to
render themselves pleasing.” She goes on to point
out that the “artificial” duty of cultivating physical
beauty clashes with the “natural” duty of being a
good, caring, intelligent mother. She returns to this
theme throughout her treatise, always tying it to the
idea that educating women and treating them as
equals is the right and ethical thing to do. As women
are the primary educators of children, and any father
would want to see his children raised in the best way
possible, focusing on the importance of the duty of
motherhood is a brilliant strategy.
Wollstonecraft goes on to clearly state that she
does not want to overturn structures that dictate
the roles of men and women. She says, “I am not
going to advise [women] to turn their distaff into
a musket,” but that she only wishes that women’s
natural place be honored. That natural (and ethical)
place for her is first a mother and companion to her
husband, and next a functioning member of society.
This, she says, is to the moral benefit of everyone.
She says that an ideal world would be one in which,
when a man is called to fulfill his duties as a citizen,
his wife, “also an active citizen, should be equally
intent to manage her family, educate her children,
and assist her neighbors.” Again, by not calling
for society’s upheaval, and by stressing the moral
impetus on all to effect this change, Wollstonecraft
targets her audience well, forcing them to ask them-
selves whether or not they have the courage to do
the right thing.
Jennifer McClinton-TempleoppreSSIon in A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman
In one of the earliest literary works of feminist
thought, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,
Mary Wollstonecraft writes about the oppression
of women. Women are oppressed because they
are discriminated against by men, who use their
authority to unfairly limit women from evolving as
moral beings; deny women the same educational
opportunities as men; and disallow women’s partici-
pation in the public sphere, requiring them to focus
exclusively on their roles as wives and mothers. The
inferior position of women is due not to the innate
weakness or irrationality of women, but to the fact
that they are effectively excluded by men from par-
ticipating in social, economic, and political arenas.
Writing during a time when, as a result of industri-
alism, domestic roles between women and men in
British society had become much more pronounced
than they were prior to the 18th century, Woll-
stonecraft has firsthand experience of oppression.
She illustrates women’s oppression by comparing it
to that of slaves. The oppression of both groups, she
argues, occurs because women and slaves lack power
and knowledge.
Hence, one of the book’s central themes is that
women should be allotted the same educational
opportunities as men because a lack of education
creates a barrier for women to be virtuous—to con-
tribute to society in a meaningful way. Thus, Woll-
stonecraft is not concerned merely with women’s
individual rights; on the contrary, what she finds
most problematic about women’s oppression is that
it prevents women from fulfilling their “moral duty”
of contributing to the greater good of society. She
insists that education is a natural right because it