Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London England in 1759. She was the only female member of the Enlightenment. In 1788 she became a translator and literary advisor to Joseph Johnson, a publisher of radical texts. Through him she became involved in the most advanced circles of London intellectuals and radical thought. Through Joseph Johnson she was able to publish the radical and groundbreaking book A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. In her book she stated that the educational system deliberately trained women to be frivolous and incapable. She believed girls should have the same education as boys so that they could grow up to be good wives and mothers, but also capable workers in any professions. She believed women and men should be educated equally and wanted equality of the sexes. Early feminists had called for improved education for women, but her book was different because she believed women’s education could be improved by political change in the radical reform of the national education system. Her book was welcomed by a storm of controversy and no immediate reform, but would later become important to the Women’s Rights movement in Europe and the United States. After returning from living in Paris in 1796 she joined one of the radical groups that gathered at James Johnson’s home. Mary Wollstonecraft died in 1797 after giving birth to her daughter also named Mary who later became Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelly, and the author of Frankenstein.