As one of the earliest feminist writers, Mary Wollstonecraft faced a daunting audience of critics ready to dispel her cry for the rights of women. Her powerful argument calling for equality in a society dominated by men was strong, and her ideas withstood a lot of criticism to become one of the most important feminist texts. Her argument was simple and illustrates a solution to the inequality in society. The foundation of this argument is the idea of education and how independent thought is necessary to live a virtuous and moral life. In the present state of society, women are seen as inferior to men and held in a state of ignorance. The worst effect of this relationship is that women are not educated and allowed to think for themselves. Without the ability to reason, women cannot achieve virtue or morality and society as a whole suffers. If women were allowed to reason and think independently, both women and men would share the benefits. With this argument, Wollstonecraft makes a very strong case in favor of women's rights.Wollstonecraft acknowledges a great inequality in society in which women are valued only as sexual beings and domestic servants. She does not argue with the fact that men have more physically superior over women, rather she argues that men's bodily strength is the "only solid basis on which the superiority over women can be built" (Wollstonecraft, 150). Wollstonecraft makes a logical and reasonable argument that any physical superiority a man demonstrates should not have an effect on the treatment of women. However, an inequality does exist because men use their inherited authority and tradition role to suppress women's rights. According to Wollstonecraft, men primarily value women as sexual beings. Men do not appreciate a women's intellectual capacity or moral worth, but rather they only appreciate a women's desirability. This is not a position women want to be in and "the reputation of chastity is prized by women...
