Setting The Stage For Moving On Part II (based on 'a Vindication of the Rights of Women'

Many works have been written about women and their place in society.  Women are given the most sacred job in the world, being mothers, giving birth and rearing children, yet when it comes to giving them authority outside this domain, they are regarded with skepticism.  In society they remain the weaker sex, dependant either on their fathers or their husbands.  This seems to be a universal outlook on women, although it is more deeply rooted in different societies.  Mary Wollstonecraft argues in her book 'A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman’, that the perception of women would change with education. She stresses the importance of educating women not just for improving their status in society, but as a necessity for the progress of civilization. For as women sharpen their mind, their bodies will get stronger, and this will result in creating a healthier and a smarter women; a friend to her husband rather than "the humble dependent of her husband". (25). However this progress is halted by the educational system and books written for women by men.  They portray them as creatures "only anxious to inspire love" when as Wollstonecraft continues, " they ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect."(2) If women were to have a better education and the same civil opportunities as men, then most likely they will become less emotional, instead of being "degraded by being made subservient to love or lust."(21) Women are capable (and have risen) of rising to the same intellect as men, which is more important to the growth of society than being emotional and dependent.  They can be either a slave or a tyrant, and with a "mistaken education", women tend to play on their weaknesses and become manipulative. (27)"Women, deluded by these sentiments, sometimes boast of their weakness, cunningly obtaining power by playing on the weakness of men; and they may well glory in their illicit sway, for, like Turkish bashes, they have more real power than their masters..."(41) It seems the men accept manipulative women, because they can understand her weaknesses, but are at a loss when confronted with a strong woman who can argue her case logically and intellectually.  Such a woman doesn't fit the stereotypical image, and therefore are shunned.  It is essential for men to understand that hard working intellectual women does not mean that these women have rejected their feminine virtues.