A Vindication of the Rights of Women : The Pioneer Work on Women Rights Movement

Abstract

A Vindication of the Rights of Women was written by Mary Wollstonecraft and published in 1792. This book has been widely regarded as the intellectual manifesto of western feminism. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to most educational and political theorists of the eighteenth century who believed that women should not have an education. Moreover, she also challenged the traditional view of women's subordination as a fact of nature and divine ordination. She argues that women were inferior because they were denied access to learning. She thought education is as important for women as it is for men, so women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are fundamental to the nation because they are the first teachers of children and they could be friends with their husbands, rather than mere wives. Although Wollstonecraft was not the first writer who wrote about the rights of women. Her work also the first one during that time that applied women rights with civil rights. Moreover, her work also discussess the root of women rights problem much more clearly than any previous work. Her book fired the ancient women's attitude revolution and maked the starting point of the women rights movement. A Vindication of the Rights of Women is considered one of the books that shocked the world.