Mary Wollstonecraft

"Vindication of the Rights of Woman" written by Mary Wollstonecraft sparked the beginning of feminism in the 19th century. She combined Enlightenment and Romantic ideas regarding society and gender to apply natural law and the rights of man to women's situation with a deep passion arising from her own experience (including her travels in France during the French Revolution). She placed a large emphasis on women's rights to, and need, for an education and essentially it became a large theme across 19th century feminism.

"Vindication of the Rights of Woman" argues that men and women should have the same right and opportunity to an education. The idea of feminism in modern culture is that women should have all the power and men should be subserviant to women. This, however, is not the idea that Wollstonecraft had. She wanted men and women to be completely equal in all aspects of society, not for one gender to be more powerful than the other; she also wrote "Vindication of the Rights of Men," which is just proof that she valued equality for men just as much as she valued equality for women. She wanted to veer people away from thinking women were just pretty objects who could reproduce.