Enlightenment thinker

Quote

• ”I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” -Mary Wollstonecraft

lifetime

• She was born 147 years after Rousseau, 13 years after Pestalozzi and 15 years earlier than Johann Friedrich Herbart Born in London to a alcoholic father and an Irish mother The whole family moved to Beverly since her father inherited a farm Mary’s father lost all the inheritance on drinking and gambling Mary attended a day school in Beverly where she learned French and how to be a good wife
• She was born 147 years after Rousseau, 13 years after Pestalozzi and 15 years earlier than Johann Friedrich Herbart Born in London to a alcoholic father and an Irish mother The whole family moved to Beverly since her father inherited a farm Mary’s father lost all the inheritance on drinking and gambling Mary attended a day school in Beverly where she learned French and how to be a good wife

lifetime

• Mary liked reading and writing at home and showed interest in various social issues
• Her schooling stopped when her family moved back to London
• Mary experienced violent headaches, gloom, and nervous fevers, and symptoms of depression and melancholy
• She suffered depression her whole life

Biographical Background

• The Vindication Was published in 1792
• She opened a school, with her two sisters near London
• School goes bankrupt within a year
• She helped her sister Elsa to escape from her husband after giving birth to a child
• She is the first self-support woman author in history

Famous book

• In 1786, published her first work: Thoughts on the Education of Daughters based on her experience with the school.

Famous works

• Original Stories for Children Reflections on the Revolution in France A Vindication of the Rights of Men A Vindication of the Rights of Women (published this book anonymously, but used her name in the second edition)

PHILOSOPHER wished to solve:

• She declared that both women and men were human beings endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She called for women to become educated. She insisted women should be free to enter business, pursue professional careers, and vote if they wished. “I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex,” she declared. “Let woman share the rights, and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated. . . .”

The end

• Eleven days after giving birth to her daughter Mary due to a blood infection caused by unsuccessful attempts to remove her placenta.