Mary Wollstonecraft: The First Feminist

At a time when feminism was not as well known as it is today, when women had nothing to do outside the home, Mary Wollstonecraft tried to change it. The mother of Mary Shelley (who wrote Frankenstein), Mary Wollstonecraft, was a unique woman: a philosopher, author and the first feminist.

Unfortunately, Wollstonecraft was very controversial during his time, and many people criticized her ideas. She died not long after giving birth to her daughter, Mary Shelley, from an infection she contracted during her pregnancy.

After her death, her husband William Godwin (also a writer and philosopher) published his memoirs to try to keep the memory alive. Despite his efforts, people still remembered her for the controversy that surrounded her. None of the intellectuals of the time thought anything of her.

Virginia Woolf and other feminists at the time made a great effort to bring Wollstonecraft back because she was so misunderstood.

Mary Wollstonecraft: The first feminist

Her early life

Mary Wollstonecraft was born on April 27, 1759 in Spitalfields (London). Her family was financially prosperous until her father wasted the entire family’s fortune. He also drank a lot and beat his wife. Mary always made sure to be a constant pillar of support for her sisters.

She always argued for women’s independence and defied the convention. So she even advised her sister Eliza to leave the family, but the world was not prepared for that. It was an uncertain path to take at that time.

Wollstonecraft had two very important childhood friends: Jane Arden and Fanny Blood. They both had a huge impact on her life. Arden’s father was a philosopher, and Mary ended up following the same direction. Blood died after giving birth, which had a lasting effect on Mary.

Her adult life

After Blood’s death, Mary made a big decision to become a writer. The first things she wrote about were the problems women faced in the worlds of education and work. When she tried to find a job, she ended up realizing that women had only two choices: to be a nanny or a governess. Women also received a much more limited education than men.

She ended up becoming a governess, even though she gave the children a very unusual education. She wrote two books based on that experience: Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) and Original Stories from Real Life (1788).

She wrote the first book in a style that was very common for that time period. What was unusual was that she wrote about single women and their lack of financial freedom. This was not a perspective that people expected to hear at the time.

Later she got a job at a publishing house led by Joseph Johnson. There she worked as a translator and ended up publishing A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790). It was a response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).

In this book she attacked inherited rights, the aristocracy and defended the idea of ​​a republic. But this controversial book was just a small taste of what would come later…

Why do people consider Mary Wollstonecraft a feminist?

Mary Wollstonecraft went to Paris in 1792, during the chaotic period when Louis XVI was being executed by guillotine. Her life took a big turn there. She published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), fell head over heels in love with Gilbert Imlay and had a child with him. However, she fell into a deep depression when the relationship did not work out.

It was the 19th century, there were revolutions, and Wollstonecraft was a single mother. She tried to commit suicide when she returned to Britain.

Paradoxically, this strong woman, who so fiercely defended her own rights and independence, fell into a depression as a result of a romantic relationship. But even calling Mary Wollstonecraft a feminist is a bit difficult because the term did not exist at the time.

Still, if you read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , you will realize that it is an early call to action. What was she really criticizing? First, she felt that romance novels made women seem to have no thoughts of their own and were dependent on men. She also spoke in favor of giving women the same rights as men, including education.

One of her big arguments was that women were not subordinate by nature. She said that lack of education was a big part of it. This basically hit all other thinkers from that time in the face. But Wollstonecraft actually took things even further.

At one point, she suggested that the painter and author Henry Fuseli had an open relationship with her and his wife. But this was a time when polyamory was more than taboo, and this proposal had major consequences.

The end of her life

Mary Wollstonecraft had a hard time overcoming her romantic disappointments. She wrote endless letters to Fuseli and tried to commit suicide again.

In 1796 she published a book about some of her travels: Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark . She went on the trip to try to get Imlay back, but realized she had no chance.

In this book, she talks about many different social issues and her own identity and relationship with the world. Of course, she also argues for the freedom and education of women. Towards the end, she accepts that her relationship with Imlay is over.

Back in London , she met William Godwin, a writer and philosopher whose ideas were a precursor to anarchism. They married and set some rules to respect Wollstonecraft’s independence. This meant living in separate but interconnected houses.

After the marriage, she started writing a lot again. Unfortunately, this happiness did not last. Mary died at the age of 38, not long after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley. Godwin raised both girls and remarried later in life.

After her death

In 1978, Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman . But as we said earlier, people did not exactly like it. The book is a collection of some of her letters and other texts.

Nowadays, what she said sounds completely logical. But back then, it was controversial. The world was apparently not ready for a woman like Mary Wollstonecraft.

Some people consider Mary Wollstonecraft to be the first feminist. In a way, she was, even though she was not the first woman in history to demand rights. Feminism had not really started yet, but her books contain some of the earliest ideas, to which no one paid much attention until the 20th century. It is partly thanks to her that women are where they are today.