Mary Wollstonecraft\'s Impact on American Society it

Mary Wollstonecraft's Impact On American Society

It may be difficult for some to phantom a world where the role of women was substantially different than it is today. In the twentieth century, women have made significant inroads into the world once dominated entirely by men but in the days of Mary Wollstonecraft the situation was remarkably different and the obstacles and barriers that Wollstonecraft and the other ladies who stood by her side had to face were considerable. Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 in a time when the options available to young ladies was extremely limited and for someone like Mary Wollstonecraft to have stepped forward in the way that she did in an attempt to redefine the roles of women in society was unheard of. Mary possessed what one might describe as a contrary personality but the reasons supporting being contrary certainly existed in the mid-18th century and many of the reasons still exist. This is why Wollstonecraft's insights and arguments had great relevance during the period of her lifetime and why many of them still have relevance today.

Wollstonecraft's name does not enjoy widespread popularity except to those deeply involved in the feminist movement (Pedersen, 2011). In fact, what popularity she does enjoy is likely in her role as the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of the novel, Frankenstein but loyal followers of the feminist movement recognize that her importance far transcends her role as Mary Shelley's mother. Wollstonecraft was born in London and lived in period in history when the ideas of the French Revolution were highly inspirational. As a result, Wollstonecraft fashioned and advocated views that were heavily laced with concerns about human rights, equality, and social deprivation.

During the course of her brief life, Mary died at 38 from septicemia only a few days after giving birth to her daughter, Mary Shelley, Wollstonecraft worked as a school teacher, governess, and as editor for a London publisher but her greatest contribution was as an author. In writing two books, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, (Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 2010) and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Man (Wollstonecraft, 2009), Wollstonecraft sets forth her various views on the outstanding issues of her time. In these books and throughout her career, Wollstonecraft advocated for her view on the issue of human rights. Taking issue with two of the leading philosophers of her time, Jeremy Bentham and Edmund Burke, Wollstonecraft espoused views more similar to John Locke (Boe, 2011). She believed that individuals are entitled to certain natural rights by virtue of the fact that they possess the ability to reason but, unlike Locke and other philosophers of her time, Wollstonecraft extended this concept to women as well. Wollstonecraft argued that because women are capable of reasoning just as men are then they too are possessed of the same human rights as men. As to Bentham and Burke, Wollstonecraft viewed natural human rights as providing the basis for the remainder of man's laws while Bentham and Burke saw human rights as arising from man's laws. Wollstonecraft used such logic to form the basis of her argument that women were entitled to the same consideration under the law as men. This is a position that is widely accepted today but in the era when Wollstonecraft lived it was highly profound, and needless to say, controversial.

Wollstonecraft's contributions were not limited to the area of human rights and their extension to women. She also contributed to the ideas of social deprivation and equality. Although Wollstonecraft's primary concern was how such ideas applied to women she was enlightened enough to recognize that such problems applied to men in society as well. Having been influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, Wollstonecraft was not content with the prevailing ideas of Burke and Bentham that social and institutional change should be occur slowly so as to not cause disruption in the social framework. Wollstonecraft, instead, advocated that social conventions and institutions that were oppressive or unjust should be changed as quickly as possible. The classic example that Wollstonecraft attacked strongly and which had particular relevance to 18th century America was the issue of slavery. Wollstonecraft viewed the continued existence of slavery in America as inhumane and a tragic violation of human rights. She was not comfortable with the position of some individuals like Burke and Bentham who would argue that the gradual abolition of the institution was the preferable due to the economic effects of sudden abolition. For Wollstonecraft the institution should have been abolished immediately and its continuation served as an insult to humanity.