“Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman’s scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and, roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”- Mary Wollstonecraft
Armed with the belief that women can achieve far beyond society’s expectations, author Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in the feminist movement. Considered one of the founding feminist philosophers, she was an eighteenth-century English writer, philosopher, and advocate for the rights of women.
Best known for her book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, Wollstonecraft was born in London in 1759. Growing up in a home where she witnessed domestic violence by her alcoholic father, Wollstonecraft’s experience shaped her beliefs and was the basis for her writings.
In “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and believes God sees men and women as equal.
Wollstonecraft’s views were not embraced by all during her lifetime. Her work virtually vanished after dying at the age of 38 shortly after giving birth to her second daughter. But with the beginning of the feminist movement in the early twentieth century, her philosophies about women and women’s rights suddenly gained popularity.
Wollstonecraft’s feminist principles were the basis for a movement that changed the woman’s place in societies all around the world. A pioneer who challenged societal norms, Mary Wollstonecraft is truly a woman who dared! What will you speak up for?
Discover more amazing women in our Women Who Dared feature throughout the month of March and share using the hash tag #Dare2BMe.
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