Wollstonecraft, Barbauld, and the Proto-Feminists Christine Zopf College

The Romantic period was one marked by turmoil and deep unrest within England. The morality of the slave trade was questioned, the Industrial Revolution deepened the rift between the working class and aristocracy, and the French Revolution was on the rise in France, drawing the attention of those in England who felt oppressed. In the midst of these various revolutions and uprisings, women also began to question their place in society, aligning themselves with slaves and the implications that came with being deemed property. Two women, Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Letitia Barbauld, took to writing in order to proclaim their incredibly opposing views on the topic of women’s rights. While Wollstonecraft argued for education of women in A Vindication for the Rights of Woman, Barbauld used her poem “The Rights of Woman” to outline the consequences of ambition. In A Vindication for the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft emphasizes the need for female education in order to better unite men and women.

This idea is made clear from the beginning of A Vindication for the Rights of Woman when Wollstonecraft states in her dedication, “if [woman] not be prepared by education to become the companion to man, she will stop progress of knowledge and...