A Vindication of the Rights of Women
These
excerpts written by Mary Wollstonecraft played a big role in the feminist
movement. Wollstonecraft was born in Spitalfields, UK but lived most of her
life in London. She lived from 1759 to 1797, so she died after only
thirty-eight years; which is a decent amount of time back then. During
Wollstonecraft’s life, she experienced a lot of things that fuelled her to
write “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.” I think Wollstonecraft’s goal of
writing this is to form a structure to the feminist movement. During this time,
women had little rights and basically only lived to serve man. These excerpts
were one of the first things written about the feminist movement and it played
a big role in exercising the rights of women during this time and it fuelled
what would come later. Wollstonecraft’s writing outlines how women have been
put in the position they were in. Society at the time believed women are to
serve men and pretty much only serve men. Women had to say in government or
politics, except if you are the queen. Wollstonecraft finishes up her writing
of A Vindication of the Rights of Women by talking about how women indulge
their silliness. Women would often reach out to mediums and fortune tellers,
thus embracing society’s view of women.
Do you think that Mary had any intention to start or impact a movement? I think her writing may have emerged from frustrations she faced personally because of stereotypes thrust upon her as a woman at that time. I'm not sure if she was calling for equal treatment of women, but simply that women who exemplified qualities men strive for should be recognized for those qualities. She seems aggravated by the majority of women who were uneducated and had no desire to become educated, but I don't think she intends to change them. Perhaps it comes down to success based on merit. Intelligent women should be seen as intelligent without the condition of their gender.
ReplyDeleteI think this was less to spark a movement for women, and more to attract the attention and respect of women from men. I think she just wanted to prove through her writing that women are equal to men and that men need to give women a chance.
ReplyDeleteBobby you have one more post to make up at this point.
ReplyDelete