79 pages • 2-hour read
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
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Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
DEDICATION-INTRODUCTION
Reading Check
1. What topic did Talleyrand-Périgord write about?
2. In what way does Wollstonecraft see men as superior to women?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does the subjugation of women impact men, according to Wollstonecraft?
2. What analogy does Wollstonecraft draw between women and flowers?
CHAPTERS 1-3
Reading Check
1. Whose “return to nature” philosophy does Wollstonecraft reject?
2. What does Wollstonecraft believe can be used to free women from their habit of “blind obedience”?
3. What does Wollstonecraft see as the primary aim of women’s education as it is commonly practiced in her day?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Wollstonecraft see as the root cause of human degradation?
2. What does Wollstonecraft identify as the primary way that men maintain their “tyranny” over women?
3. What weakness does Wollstonecraft identify in the argument that women should exist in a state of childlike innocence so that men can more easily lead them?
4. What primary cause does Wollstonecraft point to for the supposed physical frailty of women?
Paired Resource
“Highlights from the Marguerite Hicks Collection: Sophia (1739-1740)”
- This Oakland University resource offers excerpts from the writings of an anonymous early 18th-century author arguing for the equality of women.
- This resource relates to the themes of Gender Inequality and Sexual Difference, The Tyranny of Power and the Prevalence of Hierarchies, Misconceived Ideas of Virtue and Morality, and Formal and Informal Education.
- What arguments do Sophia and Wollstonecraft have in common? Where do their ideas diverge? How does knowing more about proto-feminist writers of the early 18th century impact your understanding of Wollstonecraft’s arguments in the first section of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman?
CHAPTERS 4-5
Reading Check
1. What does Mrs. Anna Letitia Barbauld say is a woman’s “sweetest empire” in her poem?
2. What does Wollstonecraft point to as women’s only means of elevating their stations?
3. Who is the author of Sermons to Young Women?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Wollstonecraft mean by the phrase “hollow respect” in Chapter 4?
2. What stratagems does Wollstonecraft say women often resort to in order to gain admiration and respect?
3. In her critique of Rousseau, what point is Wollstonecraft making when she compares women to spaniels?
4. In her discussion of Gregory’s A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters, what point does Wollstonecraft make about the many rules it suggests for the behavior of women?
Paired Resource
“18th-Century Etiquette for Women” and “Conduct Books for Young Ladies”
- These articles discuss the behavior and mores expected of women in the late 1700s and the “educational” books that promoted these values.
- These resources relate to the themes of Misconceived Ideas of Virtue and Morality and Formal and Informal Education.
- Which ideas in these popular books for women would Wollstonecraft point to as evidence that women were being trained to be pleasing to and dependent on men? What modern sources of “education” about gender roles might Wollstonecraft advance similar arguments against?
CHAPTERS 6-8
Reading Check
1. What does Wollstonecraft assert that women lacking education are forced to rely upon in understanding the world?
2. What criticism does Wollstonecraft make of women’s relationships with one another?
3. What virtue does Wollstonecraft claim is lacking in men, leading to “female weakness” and men’s “depravity,” as mentioned in Chapter 7?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What connection does Wollstonecraft make between education and the type of men women tend to be attracted to?
2. How does Wollstonecraft see the socialization of women impacting the power dynamics inside of marriage?
3. What is the difference between modesty and humility, according to Wollstonecraft?
4. What is Wollstonecraft’s chief objection to the obligation for women to maintain a good reputation in society?
Paired Resource
“How a Husband’s Loving Biography Ruined His Wife’s Reputation”
- This article discusses the backlash against Wollstonecraft created by Godwin’s biography of her written after her death.
- This resource relates to the theme of Misconceived Ideas of Virtue and Morality.
- What is ironic about Godwin’s intentions versus his actual impact? What does the backlash against Wollstonecraft illustrate regarding her contentions about women’s reputations? How does this situation relate to the earlier point about men’s supposed worldliness and intelligence versus women’s supposed childlike naïveté?
CHAPTERS 9-11
Reading Check
1. What does Wollstonecraft complain currently commands the most respect in society?
2. What does Wollstonecraft believe is one of the duties of women created by nature?
3. What does Wollstonecraft compare to the “rights of kings” in Chapter 11?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Wollstonecraft connect her discussion of the class system with her ideas about women in the professions?
2. What two types of parents does Wollstonecraft discuss?
3. What argument does Wollstonecraft use to tie education to motherhood?
4. How does Wollstonecraft believe the way parents tend to treat their daughters impacts women more generally?
Paired Resource
“Do Parents Treat Their Sons and Daughters Differently?”
- This article summarizes research into disparities in the way girls and boys are parented in contemporary society.
- This resource relates to the themes of Gender Inequality and Sexual Difference and Formal and Informal Education.
- What gendered disparities in parenting behavior does this article identify? How are these disparities similar to and different from the disparities mentioned in Wollstonecraft’s text?
CHAPTERS 12-13
Reading Check
1. What does Wollstonecraft call “hot-beds of vice and folly” in Chapter 12?
2. To what does Wollstonecraft compare students being taught to mindlessly recite facts?
3. What type of literature does Wollstonecraft disapprove of women reading?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What are some of Wollstonecraft’s ideas about the ideal system of schooling?
2. How does Wollstonecraft believe her ideal schools would promote empathy and discourage class-based cruelty?
3. How does Wollstonecraft link fashion to the degradation of relationships among women?
4. How does Wollstonecraft characterize poorly educated mothers?
Recommended Next Reads
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
- In this foundational feminist text, Woolf argues that women have been systematically excluded from opportunities, particularly in the arts, and that their representation by male artists is biased and inaccurate.
- Shared themes include Gender Inequality and Sexual Difference, The Tyranny of Power and the Prevalence of Hierarchies, and Formal and Informal Education.
- Shared topics include feminism, equality of educational opportunity, representation of women in writing, and women’s participation in their own oppression.
- A Room of One’s Own on SuperSummary
Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks
- Acclaimed educator and philosopher bell hooks explains modern feminism in a warm, approachable tone, without reliance on academic jargon.
- Shared themes include Gender Inequality and Sexual Difference, The Tyranny of Power and the Prevalence of Hierarchies, and Formal and Informal Education.
- Shared topics include feminism, equality of educational opportunity, and women’s participation in their own oppression.
- Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
DEDICATION-INTRODUCTION
Reading Check
1. Education in France (Dedication)
2. Physically (Introduction)
Short Answer
1. She argues that the subjugation of women morally degrades the men who engage in it. She likens it to slavery, saying that the subjugation of women lacks virtue and morality. (Dedication)
2. Because women are valued only for their beauty, Wollstonecraft compares them to flowers planted in over-fertile soil and coaxed to bloom too soon. Since they have not been encouraged to develop their intellect and reason, most women “bloom” only once and then fade, unlike a plant allowed to reach its full maturity before blossoming. (Introduction)
CHAPTERS 1-3
Reading Check
1. Rousseau’s (Chapter 1)
2. Education (Chapter 2)
3. To make women pleasing and dependent (Chapter 3)
Short Answer
1. Wollstonecraft points to power and the unequal hierarchies it creates as the source of human degradation. These hierarchies force people into unnatural flattery and subordination instead of allowing them to focus on self-improvement. (Chapter 1)
2. Men maintain their power over women, according to Wollstonecraft, by perpetuating the myth that there is a fundamental difference between the masculine and feminine ideals. (Chapter 2)
3. She points out that many men are not the intelligent, clear-thinking, moral beings that this theory presupposes they are, and that this creates a situation where childlike, naive people are put in charge of leading other childlike, naive people. (Chapter 2)
4. Although as children girls play as vigorously as boys, Wollstonecraft believes that social training and gender norms cause them to gradually develop weak constitutions; to appeal to popular ideals of femininity, they retreat indoors, take up sedentary occupations, and learn to emphasize their own frailty. (Chapter 3)
CHAPTERS 4-5
Reading Check
1. To please (Chapter 4)
2. Advantageous marriages (Chapter 4)
3. James Fordyce (Chapter 5)
Short Answer
1. “Hollow respect” is the phrase Wollstonecraft uses to identify the surface-level gestures of respect—such as closing doors and holding a handkerchief for a woman—that pretend to elevate women to a higher status but that hide a fundamental lack of genuine respect for a woman’s intellect and reason. (Chapter 4)
2. She says that women must resort to exaggerating their supposedly feminine qualities, such as frailty, beauty, childlike innocence, and extreme emotion. (Chapter 4)
3. Rousseau portrays women’s dependence on men as the natural state of things; Wollstonecraft is pushing back against this by comparing dependent women to domesticated dogs; they have little choice, she suggests, but to respond eagerly and cheerfully to their own subjugation and not fight back against it, because they are essentially helpless captives who have a “master” to please. (Chapter 5)
4. Wollstonecraft points out that, given an adequate education and allowed to develop their reason and intellect, women would not need books full of rules to “blindly obey”; their own minds would be a sufficient source of guidance. (Chapter 5)
CHAPTERS 6-8
Reading Check
1. First impressions, instinct (Chapter 6)
2. They are too personal/intimate. (Chapter 7)
3. Chastity (Chapter 8)
Short Answer
1. Wollstonecraft points out that it is hardly women’s fault if they are attracted to superficial charm and accomplishments and are susceptible to flattery, since women’s educations consist entirely in acquiring superficial charms and accomplishments themselves. (Chapter 6)
2. Since women are socialized to be dependent and believe their entire purpose is to attract and please men, their desperate need for a man’s love enslaves them to their husbands. (Chapter 6)
3. Modesty is a “purity of mind,” while humility is “a kind of self-abasement” (128). Modesty is intellectual, rather than emotional, and can only be developed through proper education. (Chapter 7)
4. Reputation is focused on the appearance of morality, not on actual morality. Maintaining a good reputation is possible even when a woman is secretly engaged in immoral behavior, and so women have little incentive to develop moral integrity. (Chapter 8)
CHAPTERS 9-11
Reading Check
1. Wealth and hereditary status (Chapter 9)
2. Caring for their children when the children are very young (Chapter 10)
3. The dominion of parents over children (Chapter 11)
Short Answer
1. Wollstonecraft explains that the class system debases everyone, but that women are most particularly affected because so many professions that command respect—being a doctor, for instance—are closed to them. (Chapter 9)
2. Wollstonecraft explains that some parents offer affection characterized by “natural and reasonable” aspirations for their children, but others are mere tyrants, thinking only to advance their children’s status and demanding complete obedience from their children. (Chapter 10)
3. Without a proper education, women cannot be expected to use good sense and keep an even temperament as they raise their children. (Chapter 10)
4. Parents are often stricter with, and expect more “blind obedience” from, female children. This discourages women from developing critical reasoning and independence. (Chapter 11)
CHAPTERS 12-13
Reading Check
1. Boarding schools (Chapter 12)
2. Parrots (Chapter 12)
3. Romantic novels (Chapter 13)
Short Answer
1. Wollstonecraft advocates for free, co-educational day schools for children of all classes where boys and girls dress alike and are subject to identical expectations in both academics and physical education. (Chapter 12)
2. She believes that by educating children of all classes together and by explicitly teaching empathetic values, her ideal schools could promote familiarity among children of different classes and teach those that are higher-up in the social hierarchy to treat those below them with decency and respect. (Chapter 12)
3. Wollstonecraft claims that the desperate need to please men and a lack of genuine intellectual opportunities lead women to be overly interested in the shallow world of fashion. This interest leads to vanity and competition among women that is harmful to genuine relationships. (Chapter 13)
4. Poorly educated women get distracted by things like romance novels, fashion, and “quack” doctors. They are unable to reason carefully about their duties to their children and therefore are liable to either leave their children to the care of servants or, conversely, spoil them badly and turn them into tyrants. (Chapter 13)
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