Intelligence and reason are not male traits — they belong to anyone with a mind. Wollstonecraft was arguing that women were not naturally less rational than men; they had simply been denied education. Equal minds deserve equal opportunities to develop.
Quote by Mary Wollstonecraft: “The mind has no sex.”
The mind has no sex.
Insight
Historical Context
Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792, in the immediate wake of the French Revolution and the radical debates about liberty and natural rights it unleashed. Her book directly challenged Enlightenment thinkers who championed reason for men while dismissing it in women.
About the Author
English writer and philosopher whose 1792 work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is considered the founding text of feminist philosophy. She argued that women's perceived inferiority was the result of lack of education rather than any natural deficiency.
View all quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft