The Great Philosophers

Mary Wollstonecraft: Was she the first feminist?

The 18th-century radical championed republicanism and education for women

Tuesday 07 September 2021 21:30 BST
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<p> ‘The neglected education of my fellow creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore,’ wrote Wollstonecraft</p>

‘The neglected education of my fellow creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore,’ wrote Wollstonecraft

The philosophers of the Enlightenment, such as Voltaire and Thomas Paine, might not have been brilliant, original thinkers, but they made up for it by their political radicalism and intellectual daring. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) should properly be included amongst their number. Her radicalism led her to reject artificial distinctions of rank, which she believed hampered the potential for human flourishing, and also to favour republicanism over hereditary monarchy as the ideal form of government. However, where she differed from her contemporaries was in her passionate commitment to the rights of women.

Wollstonecraft thoroughly embraced the Enlightenment view that society should be ordered in such a way so as to enable people to fulfil their potential as rational, autonomous beings. However, in the late 18th century, things still fell a long way short of this ideal. Women, in particular, suffered from an inequality that was woven into the fabric of society: they were raised in a way that crushed their intellectual and rational capabilities; they learned to give way to men, and to develop a docile and flattering sexuality designed solely to be attractive to men. Wollstonecraft insisted that it wasn't only women who suffered as a result of all this, but also men. Women would be better able to cultivate desirable virtues if they were able to enjoy the same rights as men. 

British artist Maggi Hambling created a public statue to honour Wollstonecraft

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