Wollstonecraft's attitude to Rouseau: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Wollstonecraft is considered a pioneer of feminist thought and an advocate for equality. Rousseau’s political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution and much of his work was agreed on by Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft, however, asks why Rousseau’s theories on education of the whole person cannot be expanded for women also. She also questions Rousseau’s writings on the place of women and why it is that their natural potential is not allowed to unfold.

         While Rousseau is often credited with a view of human equality, the reality is that he did not include women fully in that sense of equality. Women were, for Rousseau, weaker and less rational than men, and must depend on men. For Rousseau, there is only one kind of ‘good woman’ and that is the woman who does not try to intrude into the areas of life belonging to men, work, politics etc., abilities that please and serve men, who submits to his judgment and aims at delighting him in all things, and finally a woman who raises his children. Rousseau believes that women did not need to be educated in the same way as men do. Rousseau feels that an educated woman is a threat to her husband and society as a whole.

     Mary Wollstonecraft admires much of Rousseau’s work, however, argues against Rousseau’s writings on the education of women and their place in society. In many respects, Wollstonecraft is an attempt at a feminist revision of Rousseau’s theories. Wollstonecraft writes that if pleasing is all that a woman is meant to do in society, society itself is not at the level it could be. Wollstonecraft feels that Rousseau’s theories are an attack of the female sex. They claim that women are weak and artificial and not capable of reasoning. Wollstonecraft argues that a woman must be intelligent in her own right. She maintained that “meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers”. Wollstonecraft is arguing not for women to have power over men but power over themselves. Well-educated women will in turn be good wives and mothers, and not the humble dependent of her husband, and ultimately contribute positively to society.

       The majority of Wollstonecraft’s feelings towards Rousseau’s work can be concluded in this quote by Wollstonecraft, “This was Rousseau’s opinion respecting men: I extend it to women”. Wollstonecraft was an advocate for equality and as such wanted the same rights for women as men. Mary Wollstonecraft’s theories on education go further than Rousseau’s, not only because they are extended to women but because she introduces the idea of co-education.