Sentimental heroine? Not on your life.

Ever wonder who the ‘first’ feminist was? Mary Wollstonecraft is called such, along with ‘mother of feminism‘. I’m here to say, Up With Mary Wollstonecraft!

If you haven’t read her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, (available on Amazon.com Kindle for 95 cents) penned in 1792, I encourage you to do so. (My son, Jon Mark, gave me a copy  years ago.) It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about a strong woman who today we’d say was ahead of her times. Yet if it were not for her, where would women be today? (Being ‘ahead of one’s times’ is indeed a compliment of the highest order!)

I was in the bank the other day chatting with a young officer and she asked what type of books I write. I explained that I write books of strong women. I confessed I had not been a strong woman until mid-life, and today, my passion was helping women find their voices.

This, of course, led to a discussion about young women today and how they take their rights for granted (her comment) because they don’t know the fight so many women made in order for them to even be able to take it for granted (my reply).

Thank goodness they can ‘take it for granted’ but they do so on the backs of much sacrifice by many women who paid the greatest price for such.

The danger in forgetting about those women is that is what puts us at risk of losing it. Young women today MUST know women’s history. Facts like, even in the 1970s, married women couldn’t get their own credit cards.

Most of the time, Mary Wollstonecraft is seen as a liberal feminist because of her concern about the individual woman and about individual rights. I say an individual’s right is the bottom line!

One thing Mary pointed out was the importance of  honoring a woman’s natural talents, and insisted women be measured by themselves, rather than according to the standards set by men, for men.

Bravery and wisdom led her to argue that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lacked (at that time) an education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

May we one day get there.

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