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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)

Englishwoman Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, a challenge to contemporary philosophers’ views of women and their intellectual abilities. She conceded that many women were vain, ignorant, and childish but argued that women were denied the education and opportunity to develop their skills. She advocated education, opportunities to develop physical strength, and equal rights for women. Her book provided some of the philosophical basis for the suffrage movement that developed in the United States in the nineteenth century. Lucretia Mott, a leader of that movement, called it her “pet book,” and when suffragists published their history of the movement, Wollstonecraft was among the women to whom they dedicated it.

Born near London, Mary Wollstonecraft rejected becoming dependent upon anyone else when she was 15 years old. Self-educated, she opened a school and ran it for several years. After the school began to lose money and closed, Wollstonecraft began a career as a writer. In 1797, she married philosopher William Godwin and gave birth to their daughter novelist Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. She died after childbirth.

See also: Suffrage

References: Gurko, Ladies of Seneca Falls: The Birth of the Woman’s Rights Movement (1974); Matthews, Women’s Struggle for Equality (1997).

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0998.
APA 7th
Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0998.
CMOS 17th
"Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0998.