Mary Wollstonecraft

I'm reading this book I found in the kiddie section of the library. I am about a third of the way through. I will have to read one her works next; I'm finding her politics very interesting. Anyway - Wollstonecraft is my woman of the day!

Mary Wollstonecraft is probably best known as the mother of Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) and for writing The Vindication of the Rights of Women. Ms. Wollstonecraft was raised in a society where married women were treated as property and girls learned to be passive and quiet. Her first book was Thoughts on the Education of Girls, where she espoused her views on how girls should be taught and encouraged to learn.

Her life was not typical - she stayed single for a large part of her life and had a baby out-of-wedlock. She did eventually get married, and died after having her second child, Mary, in 1797.

It is really hard to summarize such an amazing woman's life and accomplishments in a blog entry! For more information, you can read a bio here or here. Hooray for free-thinking women!