A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Theme

In Wollstonecraft's introduction to the work, she states the main themes she will treat, pointing out that women do have a great many faults she wishes to address but that, unlike other writers, she intends to consider women as human creatures, not as some separate species who have nothing in common with men. She also states that she will pay more attention to the middle class, as she sees the members of that class as most likely to benefit from the changes she proposes. Poor women are often courageous and strong but, because of monetary constraints, lack the opportunity to advance beyond sheer backbreaking toil. Rich women she sees as already so corrupted by luxury as to be beyond all hope of redemption(Jacobs 34-39).

The essay concludes with recommendations on how to correct the problems it has outlined. First, women should be properly educated. Women must be able to support themselves in case a husband or family member cannot do so. Giving women access to the professions will reduce prostitution and other social problems. Women also should have the legal rights of citizens—the rights to own property, have custody of their children, and participate in government.

Importance of the book

In its extensive analysis of female oppression by, and collusion with, a sexist status quo, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman anticipated most key concerns of subsequent women's movements. Wollstonecraft's thirteen chapters closely examined such crucial feminist issues as women's debarment from formal education, institutions of power, and suffrage; their misrepresentation in images under male control; their confinement to the domestic sphere; their overvaluation of romance and sexual partnership; their mental, emotional, and (especially) economic dependence on men; their pursuit of an artificial and harmful feminine ideal that simultaneously infantilizes and oversexualizes(Todd 23-33) them; their importance ...