Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Empowering women leads to better family dynamics, provided men fulfill their roles responsibly.
Mary Wollstonecraft emphasizes the importance of nurturing rationality and freedom in women, arguing that when women are treated as equals, they are more likely to become supportive partners. However, she also highlights the necessity for men to actively engage in their responsibilities as husbands and fathers to ensure a harmonious family life.
Themes
WomenRationalityFreedomFamilyResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing gender equality at a women's rights seminar.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes βBut what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
It would be an endless task to trace the variety of meannesses, cares, and sorrows into which women are plunged by the prevailing opinion that they were created rather to feel than reason, and that all the power they obtain must be obtained by their charms and weaknesses.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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