Mary Wollstonecraft

In 1759, in London’s Spitalfields district, a girl was born who would challenge the very foundations of 18th-century society. Mary Wollstonecraft would become the first major advocate for women’s rights, arguing with revolutionary boldness that women deserved the same education, opportunities, and respect as men. Her ideas were so radical that even progressive thinkers of her era found them shocking.

Mary’s childhood was marked by hardship and violence. Her father, Edward Wollstonecraft, was an alcoholic who squandered the family’s inheritance and regularly beat his wife. Mary often slept outside her mother’s bedroom door to protect her from her father’s drunken rages. These early experiences with male tyranny would profoundly shape her later writings about women’s oppression and the need for independence.

Determined to escape domestic violence and financial dependence, Mary struck out on her own at nineteen—an almost unthinkable act for a woman of her era. She worked as a lady’s companion, opened a school with her sisters, and served as a governess. Each position showed her how limited women’s options were: they could marry, serve other families, or live in poverty. There seemed to be no path to intellectual fulfillment or economic independence.

In 1787, Mary moved to London to work for Joseph Johnson, a radical publisher who employed her as a translator and reviewer. In Johnson’s circle, she met leading intellectuals of the Enlightenment, including William Godwin, Thomas Paine, and William Blake. Here, she found her voice as a writer and began developing the philosophical arguments that would revolutionize thinking about women’s place in society.

The French Revolution provided the catalyst for Mary’s most famous work. When conservative writer Edmund Burke attacked the revolution in his “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Mary responded with “A Vindication of the Rights of Men” (1790), defending the revolution’s ideals. The pamphlet established her reputation as a formidable political thinker.

But Mary’s masterpiece came two years later with “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792). In this groundbreaking work, she argued that women’s supposed intellectual inferiority resulted from poor education, not natural incapacity. Give women the same educational opportunities as men, she insisted, and they would prove equally capable of reason, virtue, and achievement. This radical idea challenged centuries of assumptions about gender roles.

Mary’s arguments were methodical and devastating. She showed how society taught women to be decorative rather than useful, to charm rather than think, to depend rather than achieve. Marriage, as commonly practiced, was little better than legal prostitution, trapping women in economic dependence and intellectual stagnation. Only through education and legal equality could women become full human beings.

To prove her theories, Mary lived them. She traveled alone to revolutionary France, had a child out of wedlock with American businessman Gilbert Imlay, and supported herself through her writing. When Imlay abandoned her, she attempted suicide twice but ultimately rebuilt her life and continued her work.

In 1797, Mary married philosopher William Godwin, one of the few men who respected her ideas and independence. Their partnership was based on intellectual equality rather than traditional gender roles. Tragically, Mary died from complications during childbirth that same year, giving birth to their daughter—the future Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.”

Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas were so ahead of their time that even supportive contemporaries found them extreme. For decades after her death, opponents used details of her personal life to discredit her writings. Only in the 20th century did feminists rediscover her work and recognize her as the founder of modern women’s rights theory.

Today, Mary’s central insight—that women’s equality depends on educational and economic opportunity—remains as relevant as ever. Her courage in challenging social norms and her vision of human equality continue to inspire advocates for justice around the world. She proved that the power of ideas can transcend personal circumstances and that one voice, raised at the right moment, can change the course of history.

Primary Sources and Research

Mary Wollstonecraft’s Works

• “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792): Her groundbreaking feminist treatise
• “A Vindication of the Rights of Men” (1790): Defense of French Revolution principles
• “Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark” (1796): Travel writing and personal reflections
• “Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman” (1798): Unfinished novel published posthumously

Historical Collections

• The Wollstonecraft Society: Resources and research on her life and work
• British Library: Original manuscripts and first editions
• Newington Green Meeting House: Where Wollstonecraft attended services and developed her ideas
• Yale University Press: Scholarly editions of her complete works