Men and women’s roles were more sharply defined during the 19 th century more than any time in history, particularly in Europe. The belief that women were physically weaker than men had become pervasive in the society. Women’s roles were limited to the homesteads where they were required to take care of domestic chores while men labored all day. Arthur Schopenhauer is one such individual who believes that women were generally inferior to men. However, Mary Wollstonecraft dismisses such beliefs, terming them retrogressive and unwelcome. She believes that women should be given an opportunity to play an important role in the society’s progress, just like their male counterparts. While Schopenhauer insists that women’s roles are limited to child bearing and rearing, Wollstonecraft held an opinion to the contrary: women had a right to participate actively in advancing the society’s progress.
Schopenhauer despises women based on his view about them. According to him, women exist solely for the purpose of propagation and that they are the second sex. He also asserts that women are inferior to men in every respect. As such, Schopenhauer suggests that women should not be given an opportunity to play important roles in the society as he is convinced that they are big children all their life. Although, he acknowledges that women possess great talent, he declares that they have no genius because they always remain subjective. As if that is not enough, Schopenhauer declares that the most fundamental of the female character is the lack of a sense of justice. He even argues that perjury in court is mostly committed by women and that they should not be sworn, clearly demonstrating his contempt for women. His misogynistic attitude is challenged in Wollstonecraft’s composition of the vindication.
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The main reason for Wollstonecraft’s composition is to advocate for the independence of women. She regards independence as the great blessing of life and that women have the right to enjoy it. She opines that the society should not hold the women back in their desire to take an active part in advancing the general progress of the society in which they live. Wollstonecraft beautifully frames her argument regarding the need to allow women to pursue causes that give a substance to morality. She presents the argument from a patriotic point of view. She asserts that women should work to improve the morals of their fellow citizens as a show of their unrelenting patriotism. According to her, women should improve society’s morals by teaching men how to respect modesty in women and to become modest themselves. She believes that men can only deserve the respect of women by respecting women’s modesty. As such, Wollstonecraft suggests that women are oppressed in the society because men have not realized the importance of respecting them and supporting their efforts to advance the society’s moral growth.
The concept of sensibility is used to prevent women from public life. This is because women are generally considered to have narrow affections that are often put ahead of justice and humanity. This is used to justify the misogyny like that of Schopenhauer that is based on the belief that women lack a sense of justice. However, Wollstonecraft wonders how men can expect women to be just yet the same women are slaves of injustice. As such, women should be given the same rights as men before they can be judged.
According to Wollstonecraft, women’s lack of education has several negative social effects. Women lack the education necessary to make them live their lives to the fullest. Wollstonecraft opines that the most perfect education enables individuals to attain certain habits of virtue that will render them independent. Women’s lack of education has made them to have a narrow understanding about things. For instance, they become jealous of any form of kindness shown by their husbands. The lack of independence associated with ignorance also makes them subjects of their male counterparts. Therefore, women can become more fully members of the society if they get access to better education. Based on her arguments, Wollstonecraft is a feminist in the modern sense of the term. Essentially, a feminist is an advocate of women’s rights on grounds of equality of the sexes. Going by her composition, she believes that men and women are equal and should be accorded equal rights.
References
Schopenhauer, A. (1931). On women .
Wollstonecraft, M. (2017) . A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, with Strictures on Political and Moral Subject . Jonathan Bennett.
