The Invisible Mentor

WRITER, PHILOSOPHER, AND FEMINIST, Mary Wollstonecraft best known for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein . Born in 1759, she was truly ahead of her time, and during her short life (she died in 1797) she advocated and argued for the rights of women.  According to Wikipedia, in her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women “she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.” Wollstonecraft could be considered the “Mother of Feminism.”

Note: As is the case with all the posts so far in the series 10 People Who Would Have Been Great Bloggers, based on research, I attempt to get into the head of these great thinkers and project what I think they would say.

There are many troubling aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft’s life as you will discover while reading about her, but focus on the positives. Like us, she too was human.

Mentor: Fanny Blood

Pioneering Way: Became an author, though it was uncommon for women to support themselves by writing

Big Break: Publisher, Joseph Johnson commissioned Wollstonecraft to write Thoughts on the Education of Girls, which was published in 1786, and two years later they founded the journal Analytical Review

Circle of Influence: Tom Paine, John Cartwright, John Horne Tooke, William Godwin, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Blake

Works Studied: The Bible, Milton, Shakespeare

Wollstonecraftisms

1. Do not accept things because they have always been that way, challenge social norms
2. Read books and attend lectures to expand your intellectual universe
3. Seek intellectual stimulation from those around you
4. Do not be afraid to test your ideas
5. Teach your children how to reason
6. Well educated women make good wives and mothers while making contributions to society
7. Women deserve the same rights as men
8. We all have a social responsibility to the poor
9. Where you start out in life is not an indication of where you will end up
10. Invest in your mind to reap big rewards

Further Reading

The History Guide Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History: Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 – 1797

Mary Wollstonecraft Legacy

Spartacus Educational Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft on Education

Mary Wollstonecraft

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Photo credits: Wikipedia

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1. 10 People Who Would Have Been Great Bloggers
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