Mary W's Vindication of the Right Woman on Feminism - Book Report/Review Example

Influence of Mary W.'s Vindication of the Right Woman on Feminism During the late 18th century, Mary Wollstonecraft’s work, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” was considered as the hallmark text for the rise of feminism in modern Europe. The work was one of the major highlights of an otherwise criticized career of Wollstonecraft. Often considered to be the ‘mother of modern feminism’, Wollstonecraft made the whole of Europe interested in identifying feminism and feminist rights through this work. Still standing its reputation as one of the best works of the 18th century, the book, although failing to meet the expectations of an English book in terms of its language, was dead straight in conveying its points about women and their needs for educational rights. The book was a success right from the day of its release and marked the beginning of an enrage that pushed the governments of different nations of Europe and the public, to consider women as equals in the society, giving them access to their rights. Considering the magnitude of its impact, one can clearly consider it to be one of the revolutionary ideas to have completely changed the perceptions of human minds during the 18th century. (Wollstonecraft, 1792) One important reason on why Vindication is as appreciated as it is now is because of the scope of the subject the book handles. It gave a clear interpretation about the social perceptions about marriage and running a family oriented life and stressed on the importance of women getting educated. Even though many other writers have given their notions about the same subjects in the past, what made Wollstonecraft’s work unique was her handling of the most tentative subject, gender difference, in a way that describes the feminist’s influence on the other sex, especially the need for men to satisfy their day to day sexual pleasures as well as for their ideological functions. In addition, Vindication promoted what other previous works lacked - an instigation of new energy levels in the lives of women and a need for change - a complete transformation of the society. The change here refers to the change in the gender differences, the change in the perception of woman and the change in feminism as not being just another query about women. (Wollstonecraft, 1792) In general, Wollstonecraft demanded the basic right of what feminism was fought for at that time - to consider women as equals, as individual beings, allowed to perform their own actions. But, she claimed them in a different way. Eccentrically, she accepted the common gender differences that need to be present in a human society, but she was firm on the fact that such differences should not creep into any other activities, such as in considering the role of women in any organization. This notion of feminist theory laid the foundation steps for modern feminism. Another reason that could have prompted such importance for this book was the political scenarios that were present during that period. Vindication’s political ideas were highly influenced by the political turmoil that was present at the end of the eighteenth century. It has direct influences from the French revolution and Wollstonecraft references it in her work by mentioning that only a revolution done on the political front could bring about a societal change. Thus, she brought aspects of feminism like the troubles of women, their oppressions etc., into the limelight through the explanations of the then recent political issues. (Taylor, 2003) Another important qualification for the success of this book was that the woman’s right to vote was never highlighted throughout the book. Wollstonecraft reasoned for neglecting this aspect by comparing the status of the women with that of the low wage workers, working hard to pay their taxes but failing to provide even a meager source of food for their children. By stating this example, she indicated that the problem of women is not earning the right to vote but earning the right to learn, right to work, the right of motherhood and the right to an autonomous life. She then stresses that by achieving these rights, women get automatically qualified for independence. This was an important consideration because, the major parts of the world were being ruled by the European countries and the common idea on everyone’s mind was the right to freedom. Hence, the author clearly persisted with the idea of encouraging women rights to bring in the discrepancy. (Thomas, 2009) Although French Revolution recognized men and women to be equal, practically, the woman from Europe and even America were denied of their rights. They were physically confined to their homes and were not allowed to take up any roles within their society. The arrival of Wollstonecraft’s book pushed women to fight for their rights, initiated suffragist movements and demanded roles for women to perform in society and not to forget, the importance placed on women’s education. During that time, the movement of Enlightenment caught everyone’s attention and it was only through the book of Wollstonecraft that this movement shifted its focus towards empowering women with their human rights. The terms ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’ were first termed only at the end of the 19th century and even Wollstonecraft did not coin any such terms during her time. But, her book dealt with all the ideas and rights that created the concept and movement of feminism. And that is the main reason for considering her to be the first ever feminist and considering her works to be the change, that the women of the world were waiting for. As one could see, the modern feminist movement, first initiated by Wollstonecraft has continued its lineage over two centuries and the period beginning in 1990 saw the flourish of third wave of feminism. Similar to what Wollstonecraft did in the first wave, Rebecca Walker did the same by initiating the third wave feminism. The previous feminism movements were more or less concentrated on dealing the sufferings of the white women, but the third wave was concentrated on fighting for the rights of all colors of women. Lesbianism, transgender issues were given their due importance and appropriate measures were taken to force their rights. Also, there was an end to the economical divisions that were considered during the first two movements. Here, the women from all classes were treated equally and all of their issues were fought. Another major similarity to producing change was the globalization of the movement, where women from both developed and poor countries were involved in the movement. Although the term ‘third wave feminist movement’ is just a generalization and was kept just to continue with the flow of previous movements, it could be said that this movement produced change in the world - a change equal in its magnitude to that of its first edition and a change that stands on its continuing effects, even today. (Dicker, Rory & Alison, 2003) The information that was carried through this book, the ideas that were spread across to people, the inspirations it took upon, the impacts of the ideas and its ultimate success clearly indicate that this book and the works of Wollstonecraft have created a change that has continued to create impact and is expected to do so in future too. It was the time of struggle for women all over the world; it was the time when their ray of hope was diminishing to a non-existent level; it was a time when male supremacy was ruling the roost and to publish a book of that stature, dealing with such a subject during that time, Wollstonecraft’s work must be considered as one of the revolutionary works to have ever been published. What Wollstonecraft did for women can be compared to what Gandhi had done for the people of India – to give the people in trouble, a new lease of life. Works Cited Thomas H. Ford. "Mary Wollstonecraft and the Motherhood of Feminism." WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly 37.2 (2009): 189-205. Project MUSE. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27740589 Dicker, Rory, & Peipmeier, Alison. Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century. Boston: Northeastern University Press. 2003. Print Taylor, Barbara. Mary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print Wollstonecraft, Mary. A vindication of the rights of woman. London: J. Johnson Publications. 1792. Print Read More