Primary Source Argument

A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman
Author Years Published
Year Published Original Language
Jean-Paul Sartre
Mary Wollstonecraft 1946
1792 French
English

MAIN IDEAS

An Argument for According to Wollstonecraft, a truly free society would provide

education and job opportunities for women as well as for men.
Gender Equality She points out how English society in the 1700s fails to offer any
meaningful opportunities for women, and she outlines an educational
program for both men and women.

Natural Rights & Liberty

All humans should have natural

rights like life and liberty—but
women are not free.

Importance of Reason

Wollstonecraft thinks women can

be as rational as men and argues
there is a place for emotion
within a rational life.

Duty

Wollstonecraft argues women

need more education to better
perform their duties as citizens.

Context

Feminism, Sensibility
& Sexuality

Wollstonecraft’s call for equality was

limited but shocking for its time—one
of the first feminist treatises.

Enlightenment

This philosophy, focused on ideas

like democracy and rationality, inspired
revolutions in America and France.
Wollstonecraft was one of the first to
apply these principles to women.

Women’s Lives in Late

18th-Century England
A Vindication of the Women had no rights;
Rights of Woman Wollstonecraft wanted to
by the Numbers use education to increase
equality in society.

1798
Year Wollstonecraft’s
husband, William
Godwin, wrote a
biography about her

~10 Symbols
Days Wollstonecraft
lived after the birth
of her second child
Chains & Cages

Represent how women are

2 prevented from having the
lives they want
Children Wollstonecraft
conceived out of
wedlock, which was
scandalous at that time

1789
Year the French
Barbarians
Revolution began in
earnest—three years Represent out-of-date
before Wollstonecraft beliefs society should
moved to France have abandoned

Author

Motherhood

When practiced alongside

self-reliance and education,
represents the best of what
a woman can be

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
1759–97

Wollstonecraft was an educator and

writer who argued passionately for
women’s rights. A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman broke new ground,
y own sex, I hope, will excuse me,
but her controversial personal if I treat them like rational creatures.
choices sometimes overshadowed
Mary Wollstonecraft, Introduction
her work. Decades after her death,
feminists cited Wollstonecraft as an
inspiration, and she continues to
inspire today.

Sources: BBC, Biography.com, British Library,

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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