Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft (English: Mary Wollstonecraft; April 27, 1759 - September 10, 1797), an 18th-century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. During his short writing career, he completed several novels and essays, a travelogue, a history of the French Revolution, a behavioral manual, and a children's literature. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written in 1792, is Wollstonecraft's best-known work; in this book, she argued that women are not inherently inferior to men, but that this becomes apparent only when they lack adequate education. She believed that both men and women should be regarded as rational beings, and then envisioned a social order based on reason. To the general public, especially to feminists, Wollstonecraft's life is more compelling than her works, mainly due to her alternative lifestyle. Before marrying William Godwin, a pioneer of the anarchist movement, Wollstonecraft had two unhappy romances: one with the Swiss painter John Heinrich Faiseli, and the other with the businessman Gilbert Imlay. Wollstonecraft and Godwin had a daughter, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. When Wollstonecraft was 38 years old, she gave birth to her second daughter, Mary. She soon died of postpartum complications, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts. After Wollstonecraft's death, her husband Godwin published "A Biography of the Author of the Vindication of the Rights of Woman" in 1798, which revealed her alternative lifestyle. Godwin, who intended to commemorate his wife, inadvertently damaged her reputation for a century. However, with the rise of women's rights in the early 20th century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of gender equality and criticism of traditional femininity began to become increasingly important. Today, Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the originators of feminist philosophy, and feminists often refer to her life and works.