A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a 1791 book of feminist philosophy by Mary Wollstonecraft. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to the educational and political theorists of the eighteenth century who wanted to deny women an education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, rather than mere wives. Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage, Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men. Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the Rights of Woman by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly which stated that women should only receive a domestic education; she used her commentary on this specific event to launch a broad attack against sexual double standards and to indict men for encouraging women to indulge in excessive emotion. Wollstonecraft wrote the Rights of Woman hurriedly in order to respond directly to ongoing events; she intended to write a more thoughtful second volume, but she died before completing it.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Vindication_of_the_Rights_of_Woman> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1521: Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapu-Lapu killed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and over forty Spanish soldiers at the Battle of Mactan. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan> 1565: Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and 500 armed soldiers arrived at Cebu and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_L%C3%B3pez_de_Legazpi> 1805: First Barbary War: U.S. Marines engaged forces of the Barbary Coast at the Battle of Derne in Tripoli, marking the first recorded land battle by the United States on foreign soil. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Derne> 1909: After the government was restored following the 31 March Incident and the Adana massacre, Abdul Hamid II, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to rule with absolute power, was overthrown by Mehmed V. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adana_massacre> 1967: The Expo 67 World's Fair opened in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with over 50 million visitors and 62 nations participating. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_67> 1992: Betty Boothroyd became the first female Speaker of the British House of Commons. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boothroyd> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: miscreant (n): 1. One who has behaved badly, or illegally 2. One not restrained by moral principles; an unscrupulous villain <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miscreant> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. --Herbert Spencer <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
