Mary Wollstonecraft and Women\'s Education

Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft and the Mis-education of Women

According to Wollstonecraft, women have been mis-educated by men and society in general (Wollstonecraft, 7). This has taken place because of the way women have been viewed in society, and how it is expected that they act. Wollstonecraft lived in a time when women were most definitely expected to act like "ladies," and were not allowed to work and make lives of their own in the same manner they do today. Those kinds of things would have simply been unacceptable to men and to society. Women also did not have rights like they do today, and they could not do for themselves because they were not legally able to do so. This fostered the belief that women were lesser creatures, and it is a belief that women took to heart for a long time (Wollstonecraft, 9). As society was studied by Wollstonecraft, however, she observed that women truly were mis-educated about their skills, their abilities, their worth, and other facets of their life and personalities that needed to be taken into consideration.

This understanding of how women were not being taught what was truly important became very important to Wollstonecraft, who addressed the way women gave in to men and did what they were told, even though they truly knew they could have done something more. The issue of women's liberation would eventually come to their rescue (Hewlett, 48). However, until that took place, women would continue to struggle because they were being told they could not do so many of the things they knew in their heart they were completely capable of doing. That disconnect from what they could do and what they were being allowed to do caused many women trouble (Hewlett, 55). That was a large part of the reason women struggled and felt as though they were mis-educated. It was not that men were necessarily trying to keep them down, but that men did not seem to agree with how much women were capable of doing and that they did not want them to be equal.

While not all women behave as Wollstonecraft states, in that they deferred to men and gave up on many of their dreams and abilities because they were not "allowed" to have them, there are certainly still women today who fall into this category. These women are seen as objects, and not as people (Wollstonecraft, 7). It is possible to see women like this still today, as many of them work as models or in other jobs where the basic point of them is to be seen and be beautiful. That is not to imply that all models and other beautiful women are like this, though. Many women who make a living on their looks are very intelligent, and they use their looks because they can, not because they have nothing else or do not know anything else. That is an important distinction to consider. There are also other women who use their looks to make a living, but they do so by focusing on what men can buy them and give them. That is not necessarily a good way to make a living, though, because women who do this will have trouble once their looks fade. It is not sustainable.