She believes that although men and women generally have different duties in life, they should strive for identical virtues. Wollstonecraft rejects the common argument that men and women should aim to acquire different virtues. In her critique of contemporary views of women’s education, Wollstonecraft looks primarily at middle-class women and considers them first as “human creatures … placed on this earth to unfold their faculties.” She bases her argument on the belief that reason is what makes people human, that virtue is what distinguishes people from one another, and that virtue is attained through knowledge. Women are taught that romance is the primary goal of their lives, and they are not encouraged to develop their reason or virtue. Her argument is that if women are not “prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue.” Wollstonecraft believes that the neglect of women’s education has caused great misery. Mary Wollstonecraft writes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in response to French politician Talleyrand-Périgord’s pamphlet on national education.
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