Throughout this article’s entirety, Mary Wollstonecraft is challenging the stereotypical place in society that women held in her era (the mid to late 1700s). She starts off by speaking of how a woman’s only role is to be beautiful and that their character “governs by obeying”. Much later in the article, Wollstonecraft comes back to that point by stating that “women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex”. I feel that she makes a fair point on this aspect---many of the most notable women do not follow the stereotypes of females; they take a different view that some would consider to be like a man.
On that note, Wollstonecraft combats any rebuttal by saying that women “have been drawn out of their sphere by false refinement, and not by an endeavour to acquire masculine qualities.” I believe that this was one of her best points. Those skeptical of these thoughts may say that women are trying to be like men, which makes men the ideal. False. Women are pushing their society’s boundaries because of the role thrust upon them, not because they are trying to be like men.
Another matter that Wollstonecraft discusses is the role that education plays on the lives of women. She claims that women receive “only a disorderly kind of education” and that “learning is with them, in general, only a secondary thing” because women are taught that their goal is to serve a husband. Perhaps the reason for a woman’s gentleness is because “they dwell on effects”, Wollstonecraft ponders.
The biggest “issue” that Wollstonecraft claims threatens a woman from changing her place in society is love. The love that she speaks of is passion, not the friendship that blossoms into a romantic interest, the passion that is said to be able to distract a woman from any other goal.
At one point, Wollstonecraft references Rousseau who states that “a woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning.” This notion seems completely absurd to me. Why should a woman not be allowed to assert her independence in the world? Later, this point is brought back. Why should a woman only seek to please? “Whether she be loved or neglected, her first wish should be to make herself respectable,” Wollstonecraft states. I agree with her that this is how happiness should be attained. Without being happy with herself, a man’s love will never last, Wollstonecraft pronounces.
This article brings to attention all the strides that women have made since Mary Wollstonecraft was alive. Women can now vote, hold political offices, and we even had a woman make it further than ever before in the United States presidential race. Even though women have many more opportunities, there is still a large portion of people that still hold opinions of women that are far inferior to the thoughts of men. However subtle these opinions are, I’m sure that just about everyone would agree that this is the truth.
I personally believe that women will always, or at least for a very long time, be considered by some to be inferior to men. The history is too deeply rooted to be completely swayed in a short segment of time from one pole to another. Though I feel that this will not be a painless journey, I’m sure that if men and women work together and treat each other as equals, the trip will not be fruitless.
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