V I N D I C AT I O N

OF THE

RIGHTS OF WOM AN.

P A RT I .

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 I N T RO D U C T I O N .

After considering the historic page, and viewing the living world with anx-
ious solicitude, the most melancholy emotions of sorrowful indignation
have depressed my spirits, and I have sighed when obliged to confess, that
either nature has made a great difference between man and man, or that
the civilization which has hitherto taken place in the world has been very
partial. I have turned over various books written on the subject of educa-
tion, and patiently observed the conduct of parents and the management of
schools; but what has been the result?—a profound conviction that the ne-
glected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery I
deplore; and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and wretched by
a variety of concurring causes, originating from one hasty conclusion. The
conduct and manners of women, in fact, evidently prove that their minds
are not in a healthy state; for, like the flowers which are planted in too rich
a soil, strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flaunting
leaves, after having pleased a fastidious eye, fade, disregarded on the stalk,
long before the season when they ought to have arrived at maturity.— One
cause of this barren blooming I attribute to a false system of education,
gathered from the books written on this subject by men who, considering
females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to
make them alluring mistresses than affectionate wives and rational moth-
ers; and the understanding of the sex has been so bubbled by this specious
homage, that the civilized women of the present century, with a few excep-
tions, are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to cherish a nobler
ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect.
In a treatise, therefore, on female rights and manners, the works which
have been particularly written for their improvement must not be over-
looked; especially when it is asserted, in direct terms, that the minds of

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 30 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

women are enfeebled by false refinement; that the books of instruction,

written by men of genius, have had the same tendency as more frivo-
lous productions; and that, in the true style of Mahometanism, they are
treated as a kind of subordinate beings, and not as a part of the human
species, when improveable reason is allowed to be the dignified distinction
which raises men above the brute creation, and puts a natural sceptre in a
feeble hand.
Yet, because I am a woman, I would not lead my readers to suppose that
I mean violently to agitate the contested question respecting the equality or
inferiority of the sex; but as the subject lies in my way, and I cannot pass it
over without subjecting the main tendency of my reasoning to misconstruc-
tion, I shall stop a moment to deliver, in a few words, my opinion.—In the
government of the physical world it is observable that the female in point
of strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of nature;
and it does not appear to be suspended or abrogated in favour of woman.
A degree of physical superiority cannot, therefore, be denied—and it is
a noble prerogative! But not content with this natural pre-eminence, men
endeavour to sink us still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a
moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the
influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest
in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find
amusement in their society.
I am aware of an obvious inference:—from every quarter have I heard
exclamations against masculine women; but where are they to be found?
If by this appellation men mean to inveigh against their ardour in hunt-
ing, shooting, and gaming, I shall most cordially join in the cry; but if it
be against the imitation of manly virtues, or, more properly speaking, the
attainment of those talents and virtues, the exercise of which ennobles the
human character, and which raise females in the scale of animal being,
when they are comprehensively termed mankind;—all those who view
them with a philosophic eye must, I should think, wish with me, that they
may every day grow more and more masculine.
This discussion naturally divides the subject. I shall first consider
women in the grand light of human creatures, who, in common with men,
are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties; and afterwards I shall
more particularly point out their peculiar designation.
I wish also to steer clear of an error which many respectable writers
have fallen into; for the instruction which has hitherto been addressed to
women, has rather been applicable to ladies, if the little indirect advice, that
is scattered through Sandford and Merton, be excepted; but, addressing my

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 Introduction 31

sex in a firmer tone, I pay particular attention to those in the middle class,
because they appear to be in the most natural state. 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 affections of
their race, in a premature unnatural manner, undermine the very founda-
tion of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
As a class of mankind they have the strongest claim to pity; the education
of the rich tends to render them vain and helpless, and the unfolding mind
is not strengthened by the practice of those duties which dignify the hu-
man character.— They only live to amuse themselves, and by the same law
which in nature invariably produces certain effects, they soon only afford
barren amusement.
But as I purpose taking a separate view of the different ranks of society,
and of the moral character of women, in each, this hint is, for the present,
sufficient; and I have only alluded to the subject, because it appears to me
to be the very essence of an introduction to give a cursory account of the
contents of the work it introduces.
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational crea-
tures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if
they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I ear-
nestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness con-
sists—I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of
mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility
of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synony-
mous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the
objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will
soon become objects of contempt.
Dismissing then those pretty feminine phrases, which the men conde-
scendingly use to soften our slavish dependence, and despising that weak
elegancy of mind, exquisite sensibility, and sweet docility of manners, sup-
posed to be the sexual characteristics of the weaker vessel, I wish to show
that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object of laudable ambition is
to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex;
and that secondary views should be brought to this simple touchstone.
This is a rough sketch of my plan; and should I express my conviction
with the energetic emotions that I feel whenever I think of the subject,
the dictates of experience and reflection will be felt by some of my read-
ers. Animated by this important object, I shall disdain to cull my phrases
or polish my style;—I aim at being useful, and sincerity will render me
unaffected; for, wishing rather to persuade by the force of my arguments,

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 32 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

than dazzle by the elegance of my language, I shall not waste my time in

rounding periods, or in fabricating the turgid bombast of artificial feelings,
which, coming from the head, never reach the heart.—I shall be employed
about things, not words!—and, anxious to render my sex more respectable
members of society, I shall try to avoid that flowery diction which has
slided from essays into novels, and from novels into familiar letters and
conversation.
These pretty superlatives, dropping glibly from the tongue, vitiate the
taste, and create a kind of sickly delicacy that turns away from simple un-
adorned truth; and a deluge of false sentiments and overstretched feelings,
stifling the natural emotions of the heart, render the domestic pleasures
insipid, that ought to sweeten the exercise of those severe duties, which
educate a rational and immortal being for a nobler field of action.
The education of women has, of late, been more attended to than for-
merly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and ridiculed or pitied
by the writers who endeavour by satire or instruction to improve them. It
is acknowledged that they spend many of the first years of their lives in
acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body
and mind are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of es-
tablishing themselves,—the only way women can rise in the world,—by
marriage. And this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry
they act as such children may be expected to act:—they dress; they paint,
and nickname God’s creatures.—Surely these weak beings are only fit for a
seraglio!— Can they be expected to govern a family with judgment, or take
care of the poor babes whom they bring into the world?
If then it can be fairly deduced from the present conduct of the sex,
from the prevalent fondness for pleasure which takes place of ambition and
those nobler passions that open and enlarge the soul; that the instruction
which women have hitherto received has only tended, with the constitution
of civil society, to render them insignificant objects of desire—mere prop-
agators of fools!—if it can be proved that in aiming to accomplish them,
without cultivating their understandings, they are taken out of their sphere
of duties, and made ridiculous and useless when the short-lived bloom of
beauty is over,* I presume that rational men will excuse me for endeavour-
ing to persuade them to become more masculine and respectable.
Indeed the word masculine is only a bugbear: there is little reason to fear
that women will acquire too much courage or fortitude; for their apparent

*A lively writer, I cannot recollect his name, asks what business women turned
of forty have to do in the world?

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 Introduction 33

inferiority with respect to bodily strength, must render them, in some de-
gree, dependent on men in the various relations of life; but why should it
be increased by prejudices that give a sex to virtue, and confound simple
truths with sensual reveries?
Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions of female
excellence, that I do not mean to add a paradox when I assert, that this
artificial weakness produces a propensity to tyrannize, and gives birth to
cunning, the natural opponent of strength, which leads them to play off
those contemptible infantine airs that undermine esteem even whilst they
excite desire. Let men become more chaste and modest, and if women do
not grow wiser in the same ratio, it will be clear that they have weaker
understandings. It seems scarcely necessary to say, that I now speak of the
sex in general. Many individuals have more sense then their male relatives;
and, as nothing preponderates where there is a constant struggle for an
equilibrium, without it has naturally more gravity, some women govern
their husbands without degrading themselves, because intellect will always
govern.

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 C H A P. I I .
THE PREVAIL I N G O P I N I O N O F A S E X U A L
CHAR ACTE R DIS CUS S E D .

To account for, and excuse the tyranny of man, many ingenious arguments
have been brought forward to prove, that the two sexes, in the acquirement
of virtue, ought to aim at attaining a very different character: or, to speak
explicitly, women are not allowed to have sufficient strength of mind to
acquire what really deserves the name of virtue. Yet it should seem, allow-
ing them to have souls, that there is but one way appointed by Providence
to lead mankind to either virtue or happiness.
If then women are not a swarm of ephemeron triflers, why should they
be kept in ignorance under the specious name of innocence? Men com-
plain, and with reason, of the follies and caprices of our sex, when they do
not keenly satirize our headstrong passions and groveling vices.—Behold,
I should answer, the natural effect of ignorance! The mind will ever be
unstable that has only prejudices to rest on, and the current will run with
destructive fury when there are no barriers to break its force. Women are
told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that
a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of
temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of
propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be
beautiful, every thing else is needless, for, at least, twenty years of their
lives.
Thus Milton describes our first frail mother; though when he tells us
that women are formed for softness and sweet attractive grace, I cannot

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 46 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

comprehend his meaning, unless, in the true Mahometan strain, he meant

to deprive us of souls, and insinuate that we were beings only designed by
sweet attractive grace, and docile blind obedience, to gratify the senses of
man when he can no longer soar on the wing of contemplation.
How grossly do they insult us who thus advise us only to render ourselves
gentle, domestic brutes! For instance, the winning softness so warmly, and
frequently, recommended, that governs by obeying. What childish expres-
sions, and how insignificant is the being— can it be an immortal one? who
will condescend to govern by such sinister methods! “Certainly,” says Lord
Bacon, “man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to
God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature!” Men, indeed, appear
to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner when they try to secure
the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state
of childhood. Rousseau was more consistent when he wished to stop the
progress of reason in both sexes, for if men eat of the tree of knowledge,
women will come in for a taste; but, from the imperfect cultivation which
their understandings now receive, they only attain a knowledge of evil.
Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied
to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness. For if it be allowed
that women were destined by Providence to acquire human virtues, and by
the exercise of their understandings, that stability of character which is the
firmest ground to rest our future hopes upon, they must be permitted to turn
to the fountain of light, and not forced to shape their course by the twin-
kling of a mere satellite. Milton, I grant, was of a very different opinion;
for he only bends to the indefeasible right of beauty, though it would be
difficult to render two passages which I now mean to contrast, consistent.
But into similar inconsistencies are great men often led by their senses.

To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adorn’d.

My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst
Unargued I obey; so God ordains;
God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more
Is Woman’s happiest knowledge and her praise.

These are exactly the arguments that I have used to children; but I have
added, your reason is now gaining strength, and, till it arrives at some de-
gree of maturity, you must look up to me for advice—then you ought to
think, and only rely on God.
Yet in the following lines Milton seems to coincide with me; when he
makes Adam thus expostulate with his Maker.

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 Chapter II 47

Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,

And these inferior far beneath me set?
Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony or true delight?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due
Giv’n and receiv’d; but in disparity
The one intense, the other still remiss
Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate
All rational delight—

In treating, therefore, of the manners of women, let us, disregarding

sensual arguments, trace what we should endeavour to make them in order
to co-operate, if the expression be not too bold, with the supreme Being.
By individual education, I mean, for the sense of the word is not pre-
cisely defined, such an attention to a child as will slowly sharpen the senses,
form the temper, regulate the passions as they begin to ferment, and set the
understanding to work before the body arrives at maturity; so that the man
may only have to proceed, not to begin, the important task of learning to
think and reason.
To prevent any misconstruction, I must add, that I do not believe that a
private education can work the wonders which some sanguine writers have
attributed to it. Men and women must be educated, in a great degree, by
the opinions and manners of the society they live in. In every age there has
been a stream of popular opinion that has carried all before it, and given a
family character, as it were, to the century. It may then fairly be inferred,
that, till society be differently constituted, much cannot be expected from
education. It is, however, sufficient for my present purpose to assert, that,
whatever effect circumstances have on the abilities, every being may be-
come virtuous by the exercise of its own reason; for if but one being was
created with vicious inclinations, that is positively bad, what can save us
from atheism? or if we worship a God, is not that God a devil?
Consequently, the most perfect education, in my opinion, is such an
exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body
and form the heart. Or, in other words, to enable the individual to attain
such habits of virtue as will render it independent. In fact, it is a farce to
call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of
its own reason. This was Rousseau’s opinion respecting men: I extend it
to women, and confidently assert that they have been drawn out of their

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 48 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

sphere by false refinement, and not by an endeavour to acquire masculine

qualities. Still the regal homage which they receive is so intoxicating, that
till the manners of the times are changed, and formed on more reason-
able principles, it may be impossible to convince them that the illegitimate
power, which they obtain, by degrading themselves, is a curse, and that
they must return to nature and equality, if they wish to secure the placid
satisfaction that unsophisticated affections impart. But for this epoch we
must wait—wait, perhaps, till kings and nobles, enlightened by reason,
and, preferring the real dignity of man to childish state, throw off their
gaudy hereditary trappings: and if then women do not resign the arbitrary
power of beauty—they will prove that they have less mind than man.
I may be accused of arrogance; still I must declare what I firmly believe,
that all the writers who have written on the subject of female education and
manners from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women
more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been; and,
consequently, more useless members of society. I might have expressed
this conviction in a lower key; but I am afraid it would have been the whine
of affectation, and not the faithful expression of my feelings, of the clear
result, which experience and reflection have led me to draw. When I come
to that division of the subject, I shall advert to the passages that I more
particularly disapprove of, in the works of the authors I have just alluded
to; but it is first necessary to observe, that my objection extends to the
whole purport of those books, which tend, in my opinion, to degrade one
half of the human species, and render women pleasing at the expense of
every solid virtue.
Though, to reason on Rousseau’s ground, if man did attain a degree of
perfection of mind when his body arrived at maturity, it might be proper,
in order to make a man and his wife one, that she should rely entirely on
his understanding; and the graceful ivy, clasping the oak that supported it,
would form a whole in which strength and beauty would be equally con-
spicuous. But, alas! husbands, as well as their helpmates, are often only
overgrown children; nay, thanks to early debauchery, scarcely men in their
outward form—and if the blind lead the blind, one need not come from
heaven to tell us the consequence.
Many are the causes that, in the present corrupt state of society, contrib-
ute to enslave women by cramping their understandings and sharpening
their senses. One, perhaps, that silently does more mischief than all the
rest, is their disregard of order.
To do every thing in an orderly manner, is a most important precept,
which women, who, generally speaking, receive only a disorderly kind of

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 Chapter II 49

education, seldom attend to with that degree of exactness that men, who
from their infancy are broken into method, observe. This negligent kind
of guess-work, for what other epithet can be used to point out the random
exertions of a sort of instinctive common sense, never brought to the test
of reason? prevents their generalizing matters of fact—so they do to-day,
what they did yesterday, merely because they did it yesterday.
This contempt of the understanding in early life has more baneful con-
sequences than is commonly supposed; for the little knowledge which
women of strong minds attain, is, from various circumstances, of a more
desultory kind than the knowledge of men, and it is acquired more by sheer
observations on real life, than from comparing what has been individually
observed with the results of experience generalized by speculation. Led
by their dependent situation and domestic employments more into society,
what they learn is rather by snatches; and as learning is with them, in gen-
eral, only a secondary thing, they do not pursue any one branch with that
persevering ardour necessary to give vigour to the faculties, and clearness
to the judgment. In the present state of society, a little learning is required to
support the character of a gentleman; and boys are obliged to submit to a
few years of discipline. But in the education of women, the cultivation of
the understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some cor-
poreal accomplishment; even while enervated by confinement and false
notions of modesty, the body is prevented from attaining that grace and
beauty which relaxed half-formed limbs never exhibit. Besides, in youth
their faculties are not brought forward by emulation; and having no serious
scientific study, if they have natural sagacity it is turned too soon on life
and manners. They dwell on effects, and modifications, without tracing
them back to causes; and complicated rules to adjust behaviour are a weak
substitute for simple principles.
As a proof that education gives this appearance of weakness to females,
we may instance the example of military men, who are, like them, sent into
the world before their minds have been stored with knowledge or forti-
fied by principles. The consequences are similar; soldiers acquire a little
superficial knowledge, snatched from the muddy current of conversation,
and, from continually mixing with society, they gain, what is termed a
knowledge of the world; and this acquaintance with manners and customs
has frequently been confounded with a knowledge of the human heart.
But can the crude fruit of casual observation, never brought to the test
of judgment, formed by comparing speculation and experience, deserve
such a distinction? Soldiers, as well as women, practise the minor virtues
with punctilious politeness. Where is then the sexual difference, when the

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 50 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

education has been the same? All the difference that I can discern, arises
from the superior advantage of liberty, which enables the former to see
more of life.
It is wandering from my present subject, perhaps, to make a political
remark; but, as it was produced naturally by the train of my reflections, I
shall not pass it silently over.
Standing armies can never consist of resolute, robust men; they may
be well disciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men under the
influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous faculties. And as for
any depth of understanding, I will venture to affirm, that it is as rarely
to be found in the army as amongst women; and the cause, I maintain, is
the same. It may be further observed, that officers are also particularly at-
tentive to their persons, fond of dancing, crowded rooms, adventures, and
ridicule.* Like the fair sex, the business of their lives is gallantry.— They
were taught to please, and they only live to please. Yet they do not lose
their rank in the distinction of sexes, for they are still reckoned superior to
women, though in what their superiority consists, beyond what I have just
mentioned, it is difficult to discover.
The great misfortune is this, that they both acquire manners before mor-
als, and a knowledge of life before they have, from reflection, any acquain-
tance with the grand ideal outline of human nature. The consequence is
natural; satisfied with common nature, they become a prey to prejudices,
and taking all their opinions on credit, they blindly submit to authority. So
that, if they have any sense, it is a kind of instinctive glance, that catches
proportions, and decides with respect to manners; but fails when arguments
are to be pursued below the surface, or opinions analyzed.
May not the same remark be applied to women? Nay, the argument
may be carried still further, for they are both thrown out of a useful sta-
tion by the unnatural distinctions established in civilized life. Riches and
hereditary honours have made cyphers of women to give consequence to
the numerical figure; and idleness has produced a mixture of gallantry and
despotism into society, which leads the very men who are the slaves of
their mistresses to tyrannize over their sisters, wives, and daughters. This is
only keeping them in rank and file, it is true. Strengthen the female mind by
enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience; but, as blind obe-
dience is ever sought for by power, tyrants and sensualists are in the right
when they endeavour to keep women in the dark, because the former only
*Why should women be censured with petulant acrimony, because they seem
to have a passion for a scarlet coat? Has not education placed them more on a level
with soldiers than any other class of men?

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 Chapter II 51

want slaves, and the latter a play-thing. The sensualist, indeed, has been the
most dangerous of tyrants, and women have been duped by their lovers, as
princes by their ministers, whilst dreaming that they reigned over them.
I now principally allude to Rousseau, for his character of Sophia is,
undoubtedly, a captivating one, though it appears to me grossly unnatural;
however it is not the superstructure, but the foundation of her character,
the principles on which her education was built, that I mean to attack; nay,
warmly as I admire the genius of that able writer, whose opinions I shall
often have occasion to cite, indignation always takes place of admiration,
and the rigid frown of insulted virtue effaces the smile of complacency,
which his eloquent periods are wont to raise, when I read his voluptuous
reveries. Is this the man, who, in his ardour for virtue, would banish all
the soft arts of peace, and almost carry us back to Spartan discipline? Is
this the man who delights to paint the useful struggles of passion, the tri-
umphs of good dispositions, and the heroic flights which carry the glow-
ing soul out of itself?—How are these mighty sentiments lowered when
he describes the pretty foot and enticing airs of his little favourite! But,
for the present, I waive the subject, and, instead of severely reprehend-
ing the transient effusions of overweening sensibility, I shall only observe,
that whoever has cast a benevolent eye on society, must often have been
gratified by the sight of humble mutual love, not dignified by sentiment,
or strengthened by a union in intellectual pursuits. The domestic trifles
of the day have afforded matters for cheerful converse, and innocent ca-
resses have softened toils which did not require great exercise of mind
or stretch of thought: yet, has not the sight of this moderate felicity ex-
cited more tenderness than respect? An emotion similar to what we feel
when children are playing, or animals sporting,* whilst the contempla-
tion of the noble struggles of suffering merit has raised admiration, and
carried our thoughts to that world where sensation will give place to
reason.
Women are, therefore, to be considered either as moral beings, or so
weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties of men.

*Similar feelings has Milton’s pleasing picture of paradisiacal happiness ever

raised in my mind; yet, instead of envying the lovely pair, I have, with conscious
dignity, or Satanic pride, turned to hell for sublimer objects. In the same style,
when viewing some noble monument of human art, I have traced the emanation
of the Deity in the order I admired, till, descending from that giddy height, I have
caught myself contemplating the grandest of all human sights;—for fancy quickly
placed, in some solitary recess, an outcast of fortune, rising superior to passion and
discontent.

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 52 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Let us examine this question. Rousseau declares that a woman should

never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be governed
by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquetish slave in order
to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man,
whenever he chooses to relax himself. He carries the arguments, which he
pretends to draw from the indications of nature, still further, and insinu-
ates that truth and fortitude, the corner stones of all human virtue, should
be cultivated with certain restrictions, because, with respect to the female
character, obedience is the grand lesson which ought to be impressed with
unrelenting rigour.
What nonsense! when will a great man arise with sufficient strength of
mind to puff away the fumes which pride and sensuality have thus spread
over the subject! If women are by nature inferior to men, their virtues must
be the same in quality, if not in degree, or virtue is a relative idea; conse-
quently, their conduct should be founded on the same principles, and have
the same aim.
Connected with man as daughters, wives, and mothers, their moral char-
acter may be estimated by their manner of fulfilling those simple duties;
but the end, the grand end of their exertions should be to unfold their own
faculties and acquire the dignity of conscious virtue. They may try to ren-
der their road pleasant; but ought never to forget, in common with man,
that life yields not the felicity which can satisfy an immortal soul. I do not
mean to insinuate, that either sex should be so lost in abstract reflections or
distant views, as to forget the affections and duties that lie before them, and
are, in truth, the means appointed to produce the fruit of life; on the con-
trary, I would warmly recommend them, even while I assert, that they af-
ford most satisfaction when they are considered in their true, sober light.
Probably the prevailing opinion, that woman was created for man, may
have taken its rise from Moses’s poetical story; yet, as very few, it is pre-
sumed, who have bestowed any serious thought on the subject, ever sup-
posed that Eve was, literally speaking, one of Adam’s ribs, the deduction
must be allowed to fall to the ground; or, only be so far admitted as it
proves that man, from the remotest antiquity, found it convenient to exert
his strength to subjugate his companion, and his invention to shew that she
ought to have her neck bent under the yoke, because the whole creation was
only created for his convenience or pleasure.
Let it not be concluded that I wish to invert the order of things; I have
already granted, that, from the constitution of their bodies, men seem to
be designed by Providence to attain a greater degree of virtue. I speak col-
lectively of the whole sex; but I see not the shadow of a reason to conclude

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 Chapter II 53

that their virtues should differ in respect to their nature. In fact, how can
they, if virtue has only one eternal standard? I must therefore, if I reason
consequentially, as strenuously maintain that they have the same simple
direction, as that there is a God.
It follows then that cunning should not be opposed to wisdom, little
cares to great exertions, or insipid softness, varnished over with the name
of gentleness, to that fortitude which grand views alone can inspire.
I shall be told that woman would then lose many of her peculiar graces,
and the opinion of a well known poet might be quoted to refute my unquali-
fied assertion. For Pope has said, in the name of the whole male sex,

Yet ne’er so sure our passion to create,

As when she touch’d the brink of all we hate.

In what light this sally places men and women, I shall leave to the judi-
cious to determine; meanwhile I shall content myself with observing, that
I cannot discover why, unless they are mortal, females should always be
degraded by being made subservient to love or lust.
To speak disrespectfully of love is, I know, high treason against senti-
ment and fine feelings; but I wish to speak the simple language of truth, and
rather to address the head than the heart. To endeavour to reason love out of
the world, would be to out Quixote Cervantes, and equally offend against
common sense; but an endeavour to restrain this tumultuous passion, and
to prove that it should not be allowed to dethrone superior powers, or to
usurp the sceptre which the understanding should ever coolly wield, ap-
pears less wild.
Youth is the season for love in both sexes; but in those days of thought-
less enjoyment provision should be made for the more important years
of life, when reflection takes place of sensation. But Rousseau, and most
of the male writers who have followed his steps, have warmly inculcated
that the whole tendency of female education ought to be directed to one
point:—to render them pleasing.
Let me reason with the supporters of this opinion who have any knowl-
edge of human nature, do they imagine that marriage can eradicate the
habitude of life? The woman who has only been taught to please will soon
find that her charms are oblique sunbeams, and that they cannot have much
effect on her husband’s heart when they are seen every day, when the sum-
mer is passed and gone. Will she then have sufficient native energy to look
into herself for comfort, and cultivate her dormant faculties? or, is it not
more rational to expect that she will try to please other men; and, in the

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 54 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

emotions raised by the expectation of new conquests, endeavour to forget

the mortification her love or pride has received? When the husband ceases
to be a lover—and the time will inevitably come, her desire of pleasing
will then grow languid, or become a spring of bitterness; and love, perhaps,
the most evanescent of all passions, gives place to jealousy or vanity.
I now speak of women who are restrained by principle or prejudice;
such women, though they would shrink from an intrigue with real abhor-
rence, yet, nevertheless, wish to be convinced by the homage of gallantry
that they are cruelly neglected by their husbands; or, days and weeks are
spent in dreaming of the happiness enjoyed by congenial souls till their
health is undermined and their spirits broken by discontent. How then can
the great art of pleasing be such a necessary study? it is only useful to a
mistress; the chaste wife, and serious mother, should only consider her
power to please as the polish of her virtues, and the affection of her hus-
band as one of the comforts that render her task less difficult and her life
happier.—But, whether she be loved or neglected, her first wish should be
to make herself respectable, and not to rely for all her happiness on a being
subject to like infirmities with herself.
The worthy Dr. Gregory fell into a similar error. I respect his heart; but
entirely disapprove of his celebrated Legacy to his Daughters.
He advises them to cultivate a fondness for dress, because a fondness
for dress, he asserts,: is natural to them. I am unable to comprehend what
either he or Rousseau mean, when they frequently use this indefinite term.
If they told us that in a pre-existent state the soul was fond of dress, and
brought this inclination with it into a new body, I should listen to them with
a half smile, as I often do when I hear a rant about innate elegance.—But
if he only meant to say that the exercise of the faculties will produce this
fondness—I deny it.—It is not natural; but arises, like false ambition in
men, from a love of power.
Dr. Gregory goes much further; he actually recommends dissimulation,
and advises an innocent girl to give the lie to her feelings, and not dance
with spirit, when gaiety of heart would make her feet eloquent without
making her gestures immodest. In the name of truth and common sense,
why should not one woman acknowledge that she can take more exer-
cise than another? or, in other words, that she has a sound constitution;
and why, to damp innocent vivacity, is she darkly to be told that men will
draw conclusions which she little thinks of?—Let the libertine draw what
inference he pleases; but, I hope, that no sensible mother will restrain the
natural frankness of youth by instilling such indecent cautions. Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and a wiser than Solomon

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 Chapter II 55

hath said, that the heart should be made clean, and not trivial ceremonies
observed, which it is not very difficult to fulfil with scrupulous exactness
when vice reigns in the heart.
Women ought to endeavour to purify their heart; but can they do so
when their uncultivated understandings make them entirely dependent on
their senses for employment and amusement, when no noble pursuit sets
them above the little vanities of the day, or enables them to curb the wild
emotions that agitate a reed over which every passing breeze has power?
To gain the affections of a virtuous man is affectation necessary? Nature
has given woman a weaker frame than man; but, to ensure her husband’s
affections, must a wife, who by the exercise of her mind and body whilst
she was discharging the duties of a daughter, wife, and mother, has allowed
her constitution to retain its natural strength, and her nerves a healthy tone,
is she, I say, to condescend to use art and feign a sickly delicacy in order
to secure her husband’s affection? Weakness may excite tenderness, and
gratify the arrogant pride of man; but the lordly caresses of a protector will
not gratify a noble mind that pants for, and deserves to be respected. Fond-
ness is a poor substitute for friendship!
In a seraglio, I grant, that all these arts are necessary; the epicure must
have his palate tickled, or he will sink into apathy; but have women so little
ambition as to be satisfied with such a condition? Can they supinely dream
life away in the lap of pleasure, or the languor of weariness, rather than
assert claim to pursue reasonable pleasures and render themselves con-
spicuous by practising the virtues which dignify mankind? Surely she has
not an immortal soul who can loiter life away merely employed to adorn
her person, that she may amuse the languid hours, and soften the cares of
a fellow-creature who is willing to be enlivened by her smiles and tricks,
when the serious business of life is over.
Besides, the woman who stengthens her body and exercises her mind
will, by managing her family and practising various virtues, become the
friend, and not the humble dependent of her husband; and if she, by pos-
sessing such substantial qualities, merit his regard, she will not find it nec-
essary to conceal her affection, nor to pretend to an unnatural coldness of
constitution to excite her husband’s passions. In fact, if we revert to history,
we shall find that the women who have distinguished themselves have nei-
ther been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex.
Nature, or, to speak with strict propriety, God, has made all things right;
but man has sought him out many inventions to mar the work. I now allude
to that part of Dr. Gregory’s treatise, where he advises a wife never to let
her husband know the extent of her sensibility or affection. Voluptuous

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 56 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

precaution, and as ineffectual as absurd.—Love, from its very nature, must

be transitory. To seek for a secret that would render it constant, would be as
wild a search as for the philosopher’s stone, or the grand panacea: and the
discovery would be equally useless, or rather pernicious, to mankind. The
most holy band of society is friendship. It has been well said, by a shrewd
satirist, “that rare as true love is, true friendship is still rarer.”
This is an obvious truth, and the cause not lying deep, will not elude a
slight glance of inquiry.
Love, the common passion, in which chance and sensation take place of
choice and reason, is, in some degree, felt by the mass of mankind; for it is
not necessary to speak, at present, of the emotions that rise above or sink
below love. This passion, naturally increased by suspense and difficulties,
draws the mind out of its accustomed state, and exalts the affections; but
the security of marriage, allowing the fever of love to subside, a healthy
temperature is thought insipid, only by those who have not sufficient intel-
lect to substitute the calm tenderness of friendship, the confidence of re-
spect, instead of blind admiration, and the sensual emotions of fondness.
This is, must be, the course of nature.—friendship or indifference inevi-
tably succeeds love.—And this constitution seems perfectly to harmonize
with the system of government which prevails in the moral world. Passions
are spurs to action, and open the mind; but they sink into mere appetites,
become a personal and momentary gratification, when the object is gained,
and the satisfied mind rests in enjoyment. The man who had some virtue
whilst he was struggling for a crown, often becomes a voluptuous tyrant
when it graces his brow; and, when the lover is not lost in the husband, the
dotard, a prey to childish caprices, and fond jealousies, neglects the seri-
ous duties of life, and the caresses which should excite confidence in his
children are lavished on the overgrown child, his wife.
In order to fulfil the duties of life, and to be able to pursue with vigour
the various employments which form the moral character, a master and
mistress of a family ought not to continue to love each other with passion.
I mean to say, that they ought not to indulge those emotions which disturb
the order of society, and engross the thoughts that should be otherwise
employed. The mind that has never been engrossed by one object wants
vigour—if it can long be so, it is weak.
A mistaken education, a narrow, uncultivated mind, and many sexual
prejudices, tend to make women more constant than men; but, for the pres-
ent, I shall not touch on this branch of the subject. I will go still further,
and advance, without dreaming of a paradox, that an unhappy marriage
is often very advantageous to a family, and that the neglected wife is, in

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 Chapter II 57

general, the best mother. And this would almost always be the consequence
if the female mind were more enlarged: for, it seems to be the common
dispensation of Providence, that what we gain in present enjoyment should
be deducted from the treasure of life, experience; and that when we are
gathering the flowers of the day and revelling in pleasure, the solid fruit
of toil and wisdom should not be caught at the same time. The way lies
before us, we must turn to the right or left; and he who will pass life away
in bounding from one pleasure to another, must not complain if he acquire
neither wisdom nor respectability of character.
Supposing, for a moment, that the soul is not immortal, and that man
was only created for the present scene,—I think we should have reason to
complain that love, infantine fondness, ever grew insipid and palled upon
the sense. Let us eat, drink, and love, for to-morrow we die, would be, in
fact, the language of reason, the morality of life; and who but a fool would
part with a reality for a fleeting shadow? But, if awed by observing the im-
probable powers of the mind, we disdain to confine our wishes or thoughts
to such a comparatively mean field of action; that only appears grand and
important, as it is connected with a boundless prospect and sublime hopes,
what necessity is there for falsehood in conduct, and why must the sacred
majesty of truth be violated to detain a deceitful good that saps the very
foundation of virtue? Why must the female mind be tainted by coquetish
arts to gratify the sensualist, and prevent love from subsiding into friend-
ship, or compassionate tenderness, when there are not qualities on which
friendship can be built? Let the honest heart shew itself, and reason teach
passion to submit to neccssity; or, let the dignified pursuit of virtue and
knowledge raise the mind above those emotions which rather imbitter than
sweeten the cup of life, when they are not restrained within due bounds.
I do not mean to allude to the romantic passion, which is the concomi-
tant of genius.—Who can clip its wing? But that grand passion not pro-
portioned to the puny enjoyments of life, is only true to the sentiment, and
feeds on itself. The passions which have been celebrated for their durability
have always been unfortunate. They have acquired strength by absence and
constitutional melancholy.— The fancy has hovered round a form of beauty
dimly seen—but familiarity might have turned admiration into disgust; or,
at least, into indifference, and allowed the imagination leisure to start fresh
game. With perfect propriety, according to this view of things, does Rous-
seau make the mistress of his soul, Eloisa, love St. Preux, when life was
fading before her; but this is no proof of the immortality of the passion.
Of the same complexion is Dr. Gregory’s advice respecting delicacy of
sentiment, which he advises a woman not to acquire, if she have determined

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 58 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

to marry. This determination, however, perfectly consistent with his former

advice, he calls indelicate, and earnestly persuades his daughters to con-
ceal it, though it may govern their conduct:—as if it were indelicate to have
the common appetites of human nature.
Noble morality! and consistent with the cautious prudence of a little
soul that cannot extend its views beyond the present minute division of
existence. If all the faculties of woman’s mind are only to be cultivated as
they respect her dependence on man; if, when a husband be obtained, she
have arrived at her goal, and meanly proud rests satisfied with such a pal-
try crown, let her grovel contentedly, scarcely raised by her employments
above the animal kingdom; but, if, struggling for the prize of her high call-
ing, she look beyond the present scene, let her cultivate her understanding
without stopping to consider what character the husband may have whom
she is destined to marry. Let her only determine, without being too anxious
about present happiness, to acquire the qualities that ennoble a rational be-
ing, and a rough inelegant husband may shock her taste without destroying
her peace of mind. She will not model her soul to suit the frailties of her
companion, but to bear with them: his character may be a trial, but not an
impediment to virtue.
If Dr. Gregory confined his remark to romantic expectations of constant
love and congenial feelings, he should have recollected that experience will
banish what advice can never make us cease to wish for, when the imagina-
tion is kept alive at the expence of reason.
I own it frequently happens that women who have fostered a romantic
unnatural delicacy of feeling, waste their* lives in imagining how happy
they should have been with a husband who could love them with a fervid
increasing affection every day, and all day. But they might as well pine
married as single—and would not be a jot more unhappy with a bad hus-
band than longing for a good one. That a proper education; or, to speak
with more precision, a well stored mind, would enable a woman to support
a single life with dignity, I grant; but that she should avoid cultivating her
taste, lest her husband should occasionally shock it, is quitting a substance
for a shadow. To say the truth, I do not know of what use is an improved
taste, if the individual be not rendered more independent of the casual-
ties of life; if new sources of enjoyment, only dependent on the solitary
operations of the mind, are not opened. People of taste, married or single,
without distinction, will ever be disgusted by various things that touch not
less observing minds. On this conclusion the argument must not be allowed

*For example, the herd of Novelists.

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 Chapter II 59

to hinge; but in the whole sum of enjoyment is taste to be denominated a

blessing?
The question is, whether it procures most pain or pleasure? The answer
will decide the propriety of Dr. Gregory’s advice, and shew how absurd
and tyrannic it is thus to lay down a system of slavery; or to attempt to edu-
cate moral beings by any other rules than those deduced from pure reason,
which apply to the whole species.
Gentleness of manners, forbearance and long-suffering, are such ami-
able Godlike qualities, that in sublime poetic strains the Deity has been
invested with them; and, perhaps, no representation of his goodness so
strongly fastens on the human affections as those that represent him abun-
dant in mercy and willing to pardon. Gentleness, considered in this point
of view, bears on its front all the characteristics of grandeur, combined with
the winning graces of condescension; but what a different aspect it assumes
when it is the submissive demeanour of dependence, the support of weak-
ness that loves, because it wants protection; and is forbearing, because it
must silently endure injuries; smiling under the lash at which it dare not
snarl. Abject as this picture appears, it is the portrait of an accomplished
woman, according to the received opinion of female excellence, separated
by specious reasoners from human excellence. Or, they* kindly restore the
rib, and make one moral being of a man and woman; not forgetting to give
her all the “submissive charms.”
How women are to exist in that state where there is to be neither mar-
rying nor giving in marriage, we are not told. For though moralists have
agreed that the tenor of life seems to prove that man is prepared by various
circumstances for a future state, they constantly concur in advising woman
only to provide for the present. Gentleness, docility, and a spaniel-like af-
fection are, on this ground, consistently recommended as the cardinal vir-
tues of the sex; and, disregarding the arbitrary economy of nature, one
writer has declared that it is masculine for a woman to be melancholy. She
was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and it must jingle in his ears
whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused.
To recommend gentleness, indeed, on a broad basis is strictly philo-
sophical. A frail being should labour to be gentle. But when forbearance
confounds right and wrong, it ceases to be a virtue; and, however con-
venient it may be found in a companion—that companion will ever be
considered as an inferior, and only inspire a vapid tenderness, which easily
degenerates into contempt. Still, if advice could really make a being gentle,

*Vide Rousseau, and Swedenborg.

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 60 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

whose natural disposition admitted not of such a fine polish, something to-
wards the advancement of order would be attained; but if, as might quickly
be demonstrated, only affectation be produced by this indiscriminate coun-
sel, which throws a stumbling-block in the way of gradual improvement,
and true melioration of temper, the sex is not much benefited by sacrificing
solid virtues to the attainment of superficial graces, though for a few years
they may procure the individuals regal sway.
As a philosopher, I read with indignation the plausible epithets which
men use to soften their insults; and, as a moralist, I ask what is meant
by such heterogeneous associations, as fair defects, amiable weaknesses,
&c? If there be but one criterion of morals, but one archetype for man,
women appear to be suspended by destiny, according to the vulgar tale of
Mahomet’s coffin; they have neither the unerring instinct of brutes, nor are
allowed to fix the eye of reason on a perfect model. They were made to be
loved, and must not aim at respect, lest they should be hunted out of society
as masculine.
But to view the subject in another point of view. Do passive indolent
women make the best wives? Confining our discussion to the present mo-
ment of existence, let us see how such weak creatures perform their part?
Do the women who, by the attainment of a few superficial accomplish-
ments, have strengthened the prevailing prejudice, merely contribute to the
happiness of their husbands? Do they display their charms merely to amuse
them? And have women, who have early imbibed notions of passive obedi-
ence, sufficient character to manage a family or educate children? So far
from it, that, after surveying the history of woman, I cannot help, agreeing
with the severest satirist, considering the sex as the weakest as well as the
most oppressed half of the species. What does history disclose but marks
of inferiority, and how few women have emancipated themselves from
the galling yoke of sovereign man?—So few, that the exceptions remind
me of an ingenious conjecture respecting Newton: that he was probably
a being of a superior order, accidently caged in a human body. Following
the same train of thinking, I have been led to imagine that the few extra-
ordinary women who have rushed in eccentrical directions out of the orbit
prescribed to their sex, were male spirits, confined by mistake in female
frames. But if it be not philosophical to think of sex when the soul is men-
tioned, the inferiority must depend on the organs; or the heavenly fire,
which is to ferment the clay, is not given in equal portions.
But avoiding, as I have hitherto done, any direct comparison of the two
sexes collectively, or frankly acknowledging the inferiority of woman, ac-
cording to the present appearance of things, I shall only insist that men

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 Chapter II 61

have increased that inferiority till women are almost sunk below the stan-
dard of rational creatures. Let their faculties have room to unfold, and their
virtues to gain strength, and then determine where the whole sex must
stand in the intellectual scale. Yet let it be remembered, that for a small
number of distinguished women I do not ask a place.
It is difficult for us purblind mortals to say to what height human discov-
eries and improvements may arrive when the gloom of despotism subsides,
which makes us stumble at every step; but, when morality shall be settled
on a more solid basis, then, without being gifted with a prophetic spirit,
I will venture to predict that woman will be either the friend or slave of
man. We shall not, as at present, doubt whether she is a moral agent, or the
link which unites man with brutes. But, should it then appear, that like the
brutes they were principally created for the use of man, he will let them
patiently bite the bridle, and not mock them with empty praise; or, should
their rationality be proved, he will not impede their improvement merely
to gratify his sensual appetites. He will not, with all the graces of rhetoric,
advise them to submit implicitly their understanding to the guidance of
man. He will not, when he treats of the education of women, assert that
they ought never to have the free use of reason, nor would he recommend
cunning and dissimulation to beings who are acquiring, in like manner as
himself, the virtues of humanity.
Surely there can be but one rule of right, if morality has an eternal foun-
dation, and whoever sacrifices virtue, strictly so called, to present conve-
nience, or whose duty it is to act in such a manner, lives only for the passing
day, and cannot be an accountable creature.
The poet then should have dropped his sneer when he says,

If weak women go astray,

The stars are more in fault than they.

For that they are bound by the adamantine chain of destiny is most certain,
if it be proved that they are never to exercise their own reason, never to be
independent, never to rise above opinion, or to feel the dignity of a rational
will that only bows to God, and often forgets that the universe contains
any being but itself and the model of perfection to which its ardent gaze
is turned, to adore attributes that, softened into virtues, may be imitated in
kind, though the degree overwhelms the enraptured mind.
If, I say, for I would not impress by declamation when Reason offers
her sober light, if they be really capable of acting like rational creatures,
let them not be treated like slaves; or, like the brutes who are dependent on

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 62 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

the reason of man, when they associate with him; but cultivate their minds,
give them the salutary, sublime curb of principle, and let them attain con-
scious dignity by feeling themselves only dependent on God. Teach them,
in common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to render
them more pleasing, a sex to morals.
Further, should experience prove that they cannot attain the same de-
gree of strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude, let their virtues be
the same in kind, though they may vainly struggle for the same degree; and
the superiority of man will be equally clear, if not clearer; and truth, as it
is a simple principle, which admits of no modification, would be common
to both. Nay, the order of society as it is at present regulated would not be
inverted, for woman would then only have the rank that reason assigned
her, and arts could not be practised to bring the balance even, much less
to turn it.
These may be termed Utopian dreams.— Thanks to that Being who im-
pressed them on my soul, and gave me sufficient strength of mind to dare to
exert my own reason, till, becoming dependent only on him for the support
of my virtue, I view, with indignation, the mistaken notions that enslave
my sex.
I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not
to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage; and even
then the submission is to reason, and not to man. In fact, the conduct of an
accountable being must be regulated by the operations of its own reason;
or on what foundation rests the throne of God?
It appears to me necessary to dwell on these obvious truths, because
females have been insulated, as it were; and, while they have been stripped
of the virtues that should clothe humanity, they have been decked with
artificial graces that enable them to exercise a short-lived tyranny. Love,
in their bosoms, taking place of every nobler passion, their sole ambition
to be fair, to raise emotion instead of inspiring respect; and this ignoble
desire, like the servility in absolute monarchies, destroys all strength of
character. Liberty is the mother of virtue, and if women be, by their very
constitution, slaves, and not allowed to breathe the sharp invigorating air
of freedom, they must ever languish like exotics, and be reckoned beautiful
flaws in nature.
As to the argument respecting the subjection in which the sex has ever
been held, it retorts on man. The many have always been enthralled by the
few; and monsters, who scarcely have shewn any discernment of human
excellence, have tyrannized over thousands of their fellow-creatures. Why
have men of superiour endowments submitted to such degradation? For, is

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 Chapter II 63

it not universally acknowledged that kings, viewed collectively, have ever

been inferior, in abilities and virtue, to the same number of men taken
from the common mass of mankind—yet, have they not, and are they not
still treated with a degree of reverence that is an insult to reason? China is
not the only country where a living man has been made a God. Men have
submitted to superior strength to enjoy with impunity the pleasure of the
moment—women have only done the same, and therefore till it is proved
that the courtier, who servilely resigns the birthright of a man, is not a
moral agent, it cannot be demonstrated that woman is essentially inferior
to man because she has always been subjugated.
Brutal force has hitherto governed the world, and that the science of
politics is in its infancy, is evident from philosophers scrupling to give the
knowledge most useful to man that determinate distinction.
I shall not pursue this argument any further than to establish an obvious
inference that as sound politics diffuse liberty, mankind, including woman,
will become more wise and virtuous.

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