Wollstonecraft's Rights of Woman: The First Feminist Manifesto

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is the first systematic feminist treatise and one of the foundational texts of modern feminism. The book extended the principles of the French Revolution to women, and it developed a comprehensive argument for the equal rights of women in education, in the professions, and in the family. This article examines the central arguments of the Vindication and its lasting influence on the development of modern feminism.

The Context of the Book

Wollstonecraft wrote the Vindication in the context of the French Revolution and the early debates about the rights of women. The French Revolution, which had begun in 1789, had produced a series of declarations of rights — the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the various revolutionary constitutions, the early proposals for the reform of the family and the marriage laws. But the French revolutionaries had, for the most part, excluded women from the formal rights of citizenship, and the new French Republic had refused to grant women the right to vote, to hold property, or to participate in the political life of the nation.

The exclusion of women from the formal rights of citizenship was widely criticized, and the question of women’s rights was a major issue in the political debates of the early 1790s. Condorcet, in his Sur l’admission des femmes au droit de cité (On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship, 1790), had argued that the principles of the Revolution required the extension of the rights of citizenship to women. Olympe de Gouges, in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), had proposed a parallel declaration of rights specifically for women. And various other writers, in France and in Britain, had argued for the recognition of the rights of women in education, in the professions, and in the family.

Wollstonecraft’s Vindication was the most comprehensive and most influential of these works. The book developed a systematic argument for the equal rights of women, and it proposed a comprehensive program of reform that included educational reform, legal reform, and the reform of marriage and the family.

The Central Arguments

The Vindication is organized around several central arguments.

The first argument is that women are not naturally inferior to men. The appearance of inferiority, Wollstonecraft argues, is the result of the inadequate education that women receive, of the false ideas about feminine delicacy and beauty that society has constructed, and of the legal and economic dependence that prevents women from developing their full rational and moral capacities.

The second argument is that women need to be educated in the same way as men, with the same emphasis on reason, virtue, and the development of the rational faculties. The proper education of women, Wollstonecraft argues, is essential for the proper development of the human faculties, and it is essential for the welfare of society as a whole.

The third argument is that women should be allowed to participate in the professions and in public life. The exclusion of women from the professions, in Wollstonecraft’s view, is a violation of the natural rights of women, and it is also a violation of the principles of the Enlightenment. The proper system of society, in her view, is one in which all human beings are allowed to develop their talents and to participate in the life of the community.

The fourth argument is that the institution of marriage should be reformed so as to be a relation of equality between husband and wife. The institution of marriage, as it then existed, was a form of legal and economic dependence, in which the wife was subject to the arbitrary authority of the husband. The proper institution of marriage, in Wollstonecraft’s view, is one in which the partners are equal, and in which the relation is based on friendship, respect, and mutual affection.

The fifth argument is that the institution of property should be reformed so as to allow women to have economic independence. The economic dependence of women on their husbands, in Wollstonecraft’s view, was a major source of the inequalities between the sexes, and it was also a major obstacle to the proper development of the moral and rational capacities of women.

The Programme of Reform

The Vindication develops a comprehensive program of reform that addresses the various dimensions of women’s subordination.

The first element of the program is educational reform. Wollstonecraft argues for the establishment of a system of national education that would provide for the proper education of all children, regardless of their sex. The proper education, in her view, is one that cultivates the rational and moral faculties, and that prepares both boys and girls for the responsibilities of citizenship and the duties of family life.

The second element of the program is legal reform. Wollstonecraft argues for the reform of the laws governing marriage, property, and divorce, in order to give women the legal status of independent persons, equal to that of men. The proper legal system, in her view, is one in which the rights of women are recognized and protected, and in which the relations between the sexes are governed by principles of equality and mutual respect.

The third element of the program is the reform of the family. Wollstonecraft argues for the reform of the family as an institution, in order to make it a place of equality, mutual respect, and the proper development of the human faculties. The proper family, in her view, is one in which the partners are equal, in which the children are educated for the proper development of their rational and moral faculties, and in which the family is integrated into the broader community of the nation.

The Legacy

The Vindication has had a profound influence on the development of modern feminism. The book is a basic reference for the women’s rights tradition, and it has been an inspiration to generations of women and men who have struggled for the recognition of the rights of women.

The contemporary debate about the proper relationship between the sexes, about the proper scope of women’s rights, and about the proper foundation of the family and the marriage is, a continuation of the debate that Wollstonecraft began in the Vindication.

Further Reading

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu), relevant entry
• The Cambridge Companion to [Thinker] (Cambridge University Press)
• Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty (1969)