Work · Empiricism, Enlightenment & Liberalism
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Equal reason demands equal education – against Rousseau's Sophie.
Introduction
Wollstonecraft wrote the book in about six weeks and published it in London in 1792. She dedicated it to the French politician Talleyrand, who had proposed a national education system for France that left girls with only domestic schooling. In thirteen chapters she argues that virtue requires reason and that reason must be developed by education. Chapter 5 criticises writers on female conduct, among them Rousseau, John Gregory and James Fordyce. She calls for coeducation in national day schools and for women’s economic independence. The book was widely discussed at first; after Godwin’s frank memoir of her life (1798) her reputation suffered for a long time.
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Connections
Criticizes
- Emile, or On Education1762 · Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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