A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft's passionate work supporting women's rights, is considered to be among the very first examples of feminist philosophy.

When it appeared in 1792, Wollstonecraft's treatise sets out a range of what were at the time radical beliefs; she thought all women should have a formal education, so that they may raise their children to be keener in mind as well as prove able conversationalists with their husbands. Wollestonecraft by no means unreservedly supports marriage: she states that women should not be thought of merely as items to be bandied about and wed, but as human beings capable of great intellect. 

Wollstonecraft also lambastes the prevailing social picture of women; that they have a number of fixed, narrow and often domestic duties. She also singles out how women are expected to behave, criticizing in particular the notion that the highest aspiration of a woman is to be a sentimental heroine in a popular romance novel. 

Living in a time when women's rights was in its infancy, Mary Wollstonecraft suffered opposition and denigration for publishing this and other works which supported the advancement of women's rights. Although this book received a positive reception in intellectual communities who at the time debated the rights of women, it would ultimately be rejected by the society of the era, with Wollstonecraft herself becoming something of a posthumous pariah in literary circles. 

Despite this, her views left a mark: future generations of feminist thinkers such as the Suffragette movement and members of the first, second and third waves of feminist philosophy cited Wollstonecraft as an inspiration and influence. This book remains a frequent object of study in philosophy and other academic courses to this day.