A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects

Wollstonecraft uses this chapter to describe the various factors that “degrade the sex” (57) and thereby make it almost impossible for women to acquire the understanding and reasoning that would enable them to be dependent of men. The degradation she describes here refers to the fact that most women consider it their sole purpose to please, a point Wollstonecraft supports by quoting from a poem by a popular contemporary female poet—Mrs. [Anna Letitia] Barbauld. The final line of the poem reads: “Nor blush, my fair, to own you copy these; Your BEST, your SWEETEST empire is to PLEASE.” (57).

Part of the reason it’s so difficult for women to practice reason and intelligence, Wollstonecraft says, is because of the way in which they are treated by men. According to Wollstonecraft, men believe that woman was created merely to be “his solace” (56). She continues to describe how a man will treat a woman—even one of profound intelligence and learning—differently from how he would treat another man, affording her only “hollow respect” (59) and treating her like “a queen” (59) by closing doors for her and holding her handkerchief. It’s these marks of “hollow respect” (59) that Wollstonecraft believes only degrade women further, perpetuating the misconception of them as frail, weak beings who must be looked after and cared for by a man, and who are unable to perform even basic tasks themselves.