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At this time, women had few rights. That is not to say they were all abused but they were, in general, seen as inferior to men. In this year a woman called Mary Wollstonecraft published a book called A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. It is now recognised as one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy..
Mary had a troubled childhood and early life. Her book was in parts a reply to several male authors who wanted to deny woman a chance to have an education. She argued that women should have an education and that they were essential to a country because they educated its children. She claimed that many women of her time were silly and superficial but argued that this was not because women were born with inferior minds but that men had denied them education.
You have to remember that her book was written at a time when hardly anyone believed in gender equality. Women were seen to be inferior. On a personal level, I believe totally in gender equality as I believe in racial equality. But equality does not mean we should all be the same but that we should all be treated equally. Wollstonecraft also had some ideas which implied she might not have totally believed in equality. Having championed women being educated to the same level as men and in co-educational schools she also said that after the age of nine, the poor, except for those who are brilliant, should be separated from the rich and taught in another school.
However we can all only speak within the generation and social climate in which we live. We should today all strive to treat everyone, regardless of gender, race or beliefs, as an equal. There is talk of putting up a statue to Wollstonecraft for her pioneering work on bringing more equality for women. A good idea because if you look around London, in particular, you will see far more statues of males than females. She died in 1797 in London, shortly after giving birth to a daughter. That daughter will appear in the next century.
Forward to 1796AD
