A Vindication: Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Woman
How one woman answered Rousseau in 1792 — and started the argument that won women the vote, the classroom and the law.
How one event spilled into the next
The Vindication
Women's minds are equal; their weakness is a product of poor education.
The first national vote
New Zealand gives women the vote; others follow over the next century.
CEDAW
The UN adopts the women's rights convention, later ratified by Nigeria.
Girls in school
Every campaign for girls' education repeats her argument.
Did you know?
Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in about six weeks.
She wrote it partly to answer Rousseau, who said girls should be educated only to please men.
Her daughter, Mary Shelley, began writing Frankenstein at 18.
In 1929 the 'Aba Women's War' in Nigeria saw thousands of Igbo women resist colonial taxes — a landmark of African women's political power.
Key figures
- Mary WollstonecraftAuthor of the Vindication
- Olympe de GougesDeclaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
- Funmilayo Ransome-KutiNigerian women's rights leader
Where this comes from
- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
- Charlotte Gordon, Romantic Outlaws (2015)
- Judith Van Allen, 'Aba Riots or Igbo Women's War?' (1976)
Dates marked by tradition or legend are given as approximate.
Other sides of the story
Gathering perspectives…
What do you remember?
Preparing your quiz…
Every border, every spillover
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