1. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Mary Wollstonecraft

2. “I do not wish (women) to have power over men, but over themselves.”

3. Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was published in 1792

4. Background
During Wollstonecraft’s lifetime, women could not hold professional jobs.
Respectable women were expected to depend upon a husband.
Women were educated in foreign languages, music, and needlework. The purpose of the education was to make them appeal to men.
If a woman was unmarried, she had limited options for supporting herself. Available professions included servant, governess, nurse, companion to a Lady, and similar work.

5. Background
Wollstonecraft, with her sisters and a friend, opened a school in Newington Green near London.
The school failed within a year, partially due to Wollstonecraft’s decision to accompany her friend abroad.
Wollstonecraft would go on to advocate education as a solution for gender inequalities.

6. Background
After she began writing, Wollstonecraft became acquainted with other radical writers, such as Thomas Paine, William Godwin, Henry Fuseli, and William Blake.
Mary began in earnest to pursue her own form of radicalism: the idea that women could be in charge of themselves rather than dependent upon men.