Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

by Mary Wollstonecraft

The pamphlet consists of a number of short treatises, indicating certain laws and principles which Mary thought needed to be more generally understood and more firmly established. Many passages show that as early as 1787 she had seriously considered the problems which, in 1791, she attempted to solve. She was even then perplexed by the unfortunate situation of women of the upper classes who, having received but the pretence of an education, eventually become dependent on their own exertions. Her sad experience probably led her to these thoughts. Reflection upon them made her the champion of her sex.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Philosophy, Education, Classics, History, Politics

46 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. Among the general public and specifically among feminists, Wollstonecraft's life has received much more attention than her writing because of her unconventional, and often tumultuous, personal relationships. After two ill-fated affairs, with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay, Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the forefathers of the anarchist movement; they had one daughter, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died at the age of thirty-eight due to complications from childbirth, leaving behind several unfinished manuscripts.

During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which 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.


After Wollstonecraft's death, Godwin published a Memoir (1798) of her life, revealing her unorthodox lifestyle, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for a century. However, with the emergence of the feminist movement at the turn of the twentieth century, Wollstonecraft's advocacy of women's equality and critiques of conventional femininity became increasingly important. Today Wollstonecraft is regarded as one of the founding feminist philosophers, and feminists often cite both her life and work as important influences.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Ibis3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting this conduct manual by this enlightenment era feminist to be far more avant garde, both in terms of her goals for women in society and with respect to religion. Sadly, this was pretty typical of the time and genre (seeing as I did a thesis on family roles as laid out in published sermons of the period, I know whereof I speak). One thing that did surprise me was her condemnation of young women romanticising the melodrama found in novels and on-stage. She goes on about how terrible it is to portray women and men suicidal after a failed romance both for a lack of realism and because it sets a poor example (one should put their sights on eternal bliss and take misfortune of this kind as a fleeting pain). I'd just finished reading her Wikipedia article which describes her attempting suicide after the man she'd been madly in love with dumped her and continued to refuse her obsessive applications to resume the relationship. I conclude that she wrote this book when she was young and very naïve. But I'm very much looking forward to reading her more mature work on the rights of man and woman.

[Judy]

Wollstonecraft's first publication - a conventional sort of genre (instructional/conduct book), surprisingly, given Wollstonecraft's later radical productions, but perhaps it was a safe option for a woman seeking economic independence as a writer. Moreover, as a governess, and before that a school teacher, she was well situated to comment on the challenges of guiding young women to maturity in the 1780's. Personal experience too no doubt informed the insightful passages on roles that fate foisted on less fortunate females - especially the miserable ones of Companion and Governess. I daresay Wollstonecraft's biographers have mined the text for clues about her life.

I'm in no position to comment on this work's relationship to Wollstonecraft's famous VRN, not having read the latter, but I can say I found TED interesting for the glimpses it provided into domestic affairs and contemporary fashions (including beauty products referred to as "Olympian dew" and "the paint which enlivened Ninon's face"!). It also helps fill out the the context for some scenes/themes in novels of the period featuring young heroines (such as Burney's Evelina). Thinking here about Wollstonecraft's chapters on 'Public Places' and 'The Theatre'....

For all its conservative and at times repressive prescriptions, symptomatic of the times, there is an earnestness that comes up from the pages - an earnest desire to promote strong and resilient minds, albeit within the confines of traditional gender roles/restrictions.
For modern readers, the appeal will be to a limited audience - mainly those seeking to trace Wollstonecraft's development as a writer/to plot the evolution of her feminist thinking.

[chebet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I get her .

[Bárbara]

*No rating, read for college

[Judy]

Wollstonecraft's first publication - a conventional sort of genre (instructional/conduct book), which comes as a surprise, considering Wollstonecraft's later radical productions, but perhaps it was a safe option for a woman seeking economic independence as a writer. Moreover, as a governess, and before that a school teacher, she was well situated to comment on the challenges of guiding young women to maturity in the 1780's. Personal experience too, no doubt, informed the insightful passages on roles that fate foisted on less fortunate females - especially the miserable roles of Companion and Governess. No doubt Wollstonecraft's biographers have mined the text for clues about her life....

I'm in no position to comment on this text's relationship to Wollstonecraft's famous VRW, not having read the latter, but I can say that I found TED interesting for the glimpses it provided into domestic affairs and contemporary fashions (including beauty products referred to as "Olympian dew" and "the paint which enlivened Ninon's face"!). It also helped fill out the context for some scenes/themes in novels of the period featuring young heroines (such as Burney's Evelina). Thinking here in particular about Wollstonecraft's chapters on 'Public Places' and 'The Theatre'....

For all its conservative and at times repressive prescriptions, symptomatic of the times, there is an earnestness that comes up from the pages - an earnest desire to promote strong and healthy minds, albeit within the confines of traditional gender roles/restrictions.
In the 21st cemtury, the appeal of TED will be limited - mainly to those seeking to trace Wollstonecraft's development as a writer and thinker.

[Miriam]

Reading the book I expected something way more progressive. But it is only me to blame for the wrong expectations.

I am currently reading Godwin’s memoirs of her life, and it asserts “The prejudices of her early years suffered a vehement concussion. Her respect for the establishment was undermined” as a result of the French Revolution.

If anything, this, her first publication, is proof of the concept of change and self-growth we all experience at different times of our lives. Is it not admirable to be able to reassess your core-beliefs and change into a more compassionate and kinder view of the world and the human experience? After all we all have our biases, and it is working through them that we grow :)

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather scary in a way, but also a really good glimpse into the mindset of the time.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno, esperaba algo más revolucionario, la verdad. Se ve que con los años fue cambiando la perspectiva.
Me resultó más interesante "La mujer del porvenir" de Concepción Arenal, aunque también hay que reconocer los casi 100 años que separan ambas obras.
De todas maneras, me parece que mujeres tan admirables como estas deberían ser más reconocidas y ostentar el puesto revelante en la historia que en verdad les corresponde.

[Martina Foulques · Rating 5 out of 5]

Por donde empezar. Amé cada página, amo a Mary Wollstonecraft y a Mary Shelly y disfruté mucho leyendo este libro, al igual que con Frankenstein. Amé y muy buen inicio de su carrera como autora. Maravillosa escritora.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

EW

[ales · Rating 2 out of 5]

guay siempre y cuando no seas un criado

[Tracey Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

conduct book is always a snooze. low key kinda classist which feels strange for someone who hated property and aristocrats so much. she figured it by maria.