Writer · 1759 – 1797
Mary Wollstonecraft
Key Takeaways
- Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneering feminist philosopher of the Enlightenment.
- Her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is a founding feminist text.
- She argued women are rational beings deserving education and equality.
- Her daughter, Mary Shelley, wrote Frankenstein.
Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneering thinker of the Enlightenment and a founder of feminist philosophy. At a time when women were largely denied education and independence, she insisted — with force and clarity — that they are rational beings, equal to men.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Her landmark work of 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, argued that the apparent inferiority of women was the product not of nature but of poor education and social constraint. Give women the same rational education as men, she contended, and society as a whole would flourish.
A life ahead of its time
Wollstonecraft supported herself as a professional writer — itself a rarity — witnessed the French Revolution firsthand, and lived by her convictions in a way that scandalized her contemporaries. She died at 38, days after the birth of her daughter, the future author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley.
Legacy
Long overshadowed by gossip about her private life, Wollstonecraft is now recognized as one of the most important Enlightenment voices on liberty and equality. Like Hypatia and Hildegard of Bingen before her, she claimed the life of the mind in a world that resisted it — and laid the groundwork for feminism to come.
Influence
Wollstonecraft laid intellectual foundations for the women's rights movements that followed, and her argument that women are rational beings entitled to education and equality became central to modern feminism.
Legacy
Long obscured by scandal, Wollstonecraft is now recognized as a founding figure of feminism and one of the most important Enlightenment thinkers on rights and equality.
Major Works
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- A Vindication of the Rights of Men
Controversies
- Her unconventional personal life drew scandal, and a frank memoir by her husband damaged her reputation for a century.
Notable Quotes
“I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.”
Connections
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Mary Wollstonecraft?
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was an English Enlightenment writer and philosopher, a pioneer of feminism whose A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argued for women's education and equality.
Why is Mary Wollstonecraft important?
She wrote one of the founding texts of feminist philosophy, arguing that women are rational beings entitled to education and equal rights — ideas central to later women's movements.
Biography Books
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman — Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)intermediate
Wollstonecraft's founding work of feminist philosophy.
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Citations & Sources
People Like Mary
Voltaire
90Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher and wit, a tireless champion of reason, free speech and religious tolerance and one of the most influential figures of his age.
Why A fellow Enlightenment writer whose championing of reason she extended to the rights of women.
Hypatia
84Hypatia was a mathematician, astronomer and Neoplatonist philosopher of late-antique Alexandria, the most prominent woman scholar of the ancient world, whose brutal murder came to symbolize the end of classical learning.
Why An earlier woman scholar; both achieved intellectual distinction against the constraints of their times.
Hildegard of Bingen
84Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and one of the most remarkable polymaths of the Middle Ages — a visionary, composer, writer, healer and natural philosopher.
Why A medieval forerunner among women who claimed intellectual authority in a male-dominated world.
Cicero
88Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator and philosopher whose speeches and writings defined Latin prose, transmitted Greek philosophy to Rome, and championed the values of the Roman Republic.
Why Also a philosopher & writer · Worked in political philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
90Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan-French philosopher, writer, and composer whose ideas on the social contract, the general will, and natural human goodness shaped modern political thought, education, and the Romantic movement.
Why Also a philosopher & writer · Active in the same era
Niccolò Machiavelli
88Niccolò Machiavelli was a Renaissance Italian diplomat, political philosopher and writer whose treatise The Prince founded modern political science and gave his name to ruthless statecraft.
Why Also a philosopher & writer · Worked in political philosophy