Mary Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher and feminist. Her feminist views are likely to have steamed from her childhood, as she had an alcoholic father, and Mary had to protect her mother from her father, as well as looking after their household. She could not understand why her mother would not protect herself against her husband. This lead Wollstonecraft to believe that if women were educated like men they would be respected members of society also, instead of following a lifestyle which has been established by men.
Wollstonecraft had the same outlook as Locke, as she believed that everyone is born with a blank slate and with the right education, anyone can be intelligent and reasonable beings. In her book the ‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’ she states that women are naturally weak, which therefore illustrates that women can never be equivalent to men but with the right education they can be of similar status. She also explains that the constitutions of civil governments have put obstacles in the way to prevent the cultivation of the female understanding. In the Eighteenth Century, it was normality that women were inferior to men. ‘Men have the opportunity of exerting themselves with dignity and of rising by the exertions which really improve a rational creature – however the female sex are born with certain sexual privileges, but few will ever think of ways of acting beyond the call of duty to obtain the esteem of a small number of superior people.’ This is due to the lack of education as well as the lack of encouragement by society at this time.
Wollstonecraft says that women are similar to the rich in the sense that they are to be observed, to be attended to and to be taken notice of with sympathy is what they seek. However she also makes the comparison of women and the poor, stating that if you teach them to read and write and you take them out of the station assigned them by nature. John Stuart Mills was a philosopher who worked on liberty, justified freedom of the individual. It was Mills who introduced the first bill to give women the right to vote, as he thought it was only fair to give all citizens the right to vote.
Liberty meant the protection against tyranny of political rulers. Mills saw power as necessary however he did see it as dangerous as the rulers could use their power against their subjects. Mills stated that rulers needed to be identified with the people and that their interests and will should be the interests and will of the nation.
Mills believed that people in their private dealings should be free as long as no-one is being harmed. If someone is in fact being harmed then the state can interfere. Offence was down to opinion so only if you were provocative towards someone in order to get them to commit a violent act against another individual, could the state step in.
John Stuart Mills also explained that if 99% of people were in agreement the 1% should not be silence. He felt very strong about equality, as did Mary Wollstonecraft.
