Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 – 1797

Mary Wollstonecraft was an 18th-century English writer and philosopher, regarded as one of the founding figures of modern feminist political thought. Her 1792 work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argued that women appear inferior to men only because they are denied education, and called for legal and political equality on Enlightenment grounds. She also produced a Vindication of the Rights of Men in defence of the French Revolution, philosophical novels, a history of the French Revolution, and influential writings on education. She died eleven days after giving birth to her daughter, the future Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Her work fell into neglect in the 19th century but has been recovered as foundational to feminist philosophy and modern political thought since the 20th century.