Mary Wollstonecraft - My Thoughts

"Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge…  how can women be expected to co-operate unless she knows why she ought to be virtuous?" - Mary Wollstonecraft

I deeply relate to Mary. I feel her passion and recognise the fury that rages through her system and her deep desire to improve the failing world around her, whether that comes across in her work clearly or not. I think if she had lived longer and had better circumstances with a fulfilling, supportive family around her, she would perhaps be more known and her work would have a more significant voice. A lot of her work is very rushed and it feels like she is scrabbling to fit it all in (and we know she had only six weeks to write the 300 pages that would become The Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman). The constraints of a horrible husband, pregnancy, depression, suicide attempts and a journey to the 1700's Scandinavia in a boat didn’t exactly make a great writing atmosphere. I understand her need to make things better and shout out against injustice. It is a draining thing to be a feminist. Only after reading her book "Maria - or the wrongs of woman" I was playing a video game online, where I was sexualized and harassed. It is the harsh reality that women still do not have the freedom to just exist without being told what they are or sexualized for just existing. Even in fictional online worlds we are not safe.

She protested for the right for women to receive the same education as men, something the world is still struggling to provide today. Of course to some degree we are in a better place than Mary's time but I remember being in gym class and only being allowed "Dance" or "workouts" (with the aim of improving our bodies, still in the swing of puberty) whereas the boys played football and other sports. Already 15, and being indirectly told you are "not built for this". Mary had a strong belief that stereotypes and the coercive nature of girls upbringing harmed them and brought them immediately to the step beneath men.

Her legacy was mostly forgotten after her well-intending second husband published a memoir, revealing her first marriage and the child she had out of wedlock. Her romantic life was held at gunpoint and her hard work and years of philosophy were scrapped. Many know her as the mother of Mary Shelley, another iconic woman of history, but we cannot dismiss Mary only to mother. She is an incredible strength, a force to be reckoned with and to me, an idol of being human, a woman trying her best to make things better, making mistakes and learning and at the least, being aware of injustice and trying to do something about it.