A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects is a work of feminist philosophy by Mary Wollstonecraft. Written in 1792, the author dicusses the viewpoint that women are not inherently inferior to men but have been made so by societal constraints. She argues that women should have equal rights and opportunities in education, employment, and civic life, emphasising the importance of education for women, and advocating for intellectual development to enable them to participate fully in society. She further states that women are completely deserving of the same rights as men and that a failure to give them those rights, undermines the moral foundations of society. What lead Mary Wollstonecraft to write this book was a 1791 report to the French National Assembly that stated that women should only get a domestic education. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman laid the groundwork for feminist thought and the women's rights movement that would gain momentum in the following centuries. It remains a significant and influential text in the history of feminist literature and political philosophy.

This book has 86,436 words, and was originally published in 1792.

Production notes: This ebook of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was published by Global Grey in 2018, and updated on the 16th September 2023. The artwork used for the cover is 'Life Study of Lady Hamilton as the Cumaean Sybil' by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.