A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wollstonecraft): Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism is an individualistic form of feminist theory which focuses on women's ability to maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. Its emphasis is on making the legal and political rights of women equal to men. Liberal feminists argue that society holds the false belief that women are, by nature, less intellectually and physically capable than men. Liberal feminists believe that female subordination is rooted in a set of customary and legal constraints that blocks women's entrance to and success in the so-called public world. Liberal feminism does not have a clearly defined set of philosophies, which makes their beliefs abstract. They value individualistic approaches to justice and societal structures instead of blaming inequalities on others.

           Mary Wollstonecraft has been very influential in her writings as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman commented on society’s view of the woman, and encouraged women to use their voices in making decisions separate from decisions previously made for them. Wollstonecraft denied the fact that women are, by nature, more pleasure seeking and pleasure giving than men. She reasoned that if they were confined to the same cages that trap women, men would develop the same flawed characters. What Wollstonecraft most wanted for women was personhood. She argues that patriarchal oppression is a form of slavery that could no longer be ignored.

          Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should have an education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be “companions” to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving the same fundamental rights as men.

          While Wollstonecraft does call for equality between the sexes in particular areas of life, such as morality, she does not explicitly state that men and women are equal. Her ambiguous statements regarding the equality of the sexes have since made it difficult to classify Wollstonecraft as a modern feminist, particularly since the word and the concept were unavailable to her. Although it is commonly assumed now that the Rights of Woman was unfavourably received, this is a modern misconception based on the belief that Wollstonecraft was as reviled during her lifetime as she became after the publication of William Godwin's Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.