Maria, or The Intersectionality in the Oppression of Women: Class and Solidarity in Wollstonecraft's Writing Emily Turner College

Woman: a singular word, signifying the collective population of the many. The title Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman suggests the wrongs committed against not only one specific woman, but against all women as a whole. Mary Wollstonecraft deliberately uses this term as a single entity rather than its plural counterpart to represent the connection between all women, as stated in her preface: “This is what I have in view; and to show the wrongs of different classes of women, equally oppressive, though, from the difference of education, necessarily various.” Her intentions lie within the realm of solidarity, aiming to illuminate the shared struggles of women eclipsed by the patriarchy. Via her inclusive roster of suffering women, Wollstonecraft illustrates the wrongs (i.e. viewed as property, coerced into dependence on men, and abused) of all classes of woman.

Society considered the female body a commodity, exemplified in Wollstonecraft’s unfortunately incomplete novel. During the 18th-century, women were legally their husband’s property and were regarded as such. The titular character, upper-middle class Maria, attempts to leave her husband and financially support herself; however, he thwarts her plans at subjects her to imprisonment...