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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
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Chapters 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society.”
Wollstonecraft states that the class system, and the system of hereditary property that prevents wealth and property from being fairly distributed, procures “the respect due only to talents and virtue” (149)—that is, it is property and wealth that command respect in society, rather than “talents and virtue” (149). As a result, those who receive hereditary wealth become merely products of “habitual idleness” (149) and those who are not recipients are instead “cajoled out of his humanity by the flattery of sycophants” (149) in a bid to rise in station. Just as the majority of society is subject to a very few, women are subject to all men, which means, according to Wollstonecraft, that woman “will be cunning, mean, and selfish” (149) so long as they don’t have their own independence.
Women are the most “debased” (152) by the organization of society as it is. For, while “riches and inherited honours” (152) are “destructive” to the character, men, at least, are still capable of “becoming soldiers and statesmen” (152), while women are not. Similarly, while other men do have the ability to “creep” (153) out of “some loop-holes” (153), “for women it is an herculean task, because she has difficulties peculiar to her sex to overcome, which require almost superhuman powers” (153). Instead, women remain entirely incumbent upon their husbands, which will always curtail their ability to be both virtuous and dependent, as “how can a being be generous who has nothing of its own? Or, virtuous, who is not free?” (155).
Wollstonecraft argues that women should be allowed to take up careers which, up until now, have been reserved for men: “Women might certainly study the art of healing, and be physicians as well as nurses” (156). Similarly, they should be allowed to study history and politics, and to own businesses. Instead, “the few employments open to women, so far from being liberal, are menial” (157), while positions such as being a governess—which educated women are able to do—“are considered in the light of a degradation” (157) and do not offer women either respect nor station in society. She argues that “women ought to have representatives” (155) and be given opportunities to contribute to their society, rather than wasting their intelligence and determination: “How many women thus waste life away the prey of discontent, who might have practiced as physicians, regulated a farm, managed a shop, and stood erect” (157).
Chapter 10 Summary: “Parental Affection.”
Wollstonecraft distinguishes between two types of parental affection: one that is “the pursuit of a natural and reasonable desire” (159) and another that is “brutal” (159), and whose only purpose is to “promote their advancement in the world” (159). The latter form of parenting is described by Wollstonecraft as being “the most despotic stretch of power” (159) because, much like with a tyrannical ruler, it demands “unconditional obedience” (159). In seeking only to advance their child, this kind of tyrannical parenting is also typically blind to new, modern ideas, such as recognizing that women should be educated in the same way as men.
Wollstonecraft says that “unless the understanding of woman be enlarged” (160), and unless women acquire a sense of independence and control over their own intelligence and character, then women “will never have sufficient sense or command of temper to manager her children properly” (160). This, Wollstonecraft asserts, should be one of the most pressing reasons for educating women properly:
As the care of children in their infancy is one of the grand duties annexed to the female character by nature, this duty would afford many forcible arguments for strengthening the female understanding, if it were properly considered (160).
Chapter 11 Summary: “Duty to Parents.”
Wollstonecraft compares the rule of parents over their children to the “rights of kings” (162), suggesting that it is adhered to and obeyed simply because it has always been obeyed. She states that some parents do have “a strong hold and sacred claim on the gratitude of their children” (162) because they have done their “duty” (162) properly, but that many parents simply “demand blind obedience” (162) from their children, and that this is “a most cruel and undue stretch of power” (162). Wollstonecraft describes the duty of the mother as being to “enlarge the understanding of his child” (163), which contrasts “the father who is blindly obeyed, is obeyed from sheer weakness, or from motives that degrade the human character” (163).
Women, Wollstonecraft argues, are more subject to the “dominion of their parents” (164) than men, and this type of subordination can often prevent girls from acquiring certain attributes, such as independency, judgment, reason, and criticism. This inequality in parental treatment might also explain the differences between men and women, and their capabilities later in life: “This strict hand may in some degree account for the weakness of women; for girls, from various causes, are more kept down by their parents, in every sense of the word, than boys” (164). Instead, Wollstonecraft believes that girls—just as boys—should be given a simple set of rules to follow, along with the reasoning behind those rules, so that they might learn self-discipline.
Chapters 9-11 Analysis
In these chapters, Wollstonecraft returns to her critique of hierarchies as a fundamental reason for the inequalities between the sexes. She examines the hierarchies within both the class system and parental rule. In Chapter 9, she describes how the class system degrades people at every stage; those who inherit wealth grow idle, while those who aspire to wealth and property must “cajole” (149) others in order to attain it. However, as Wollstonecraft illustrates, it is women who are the biggest losers in this system, as they can neither acquire certain jobs—even if they have the skills to perform them—nor can they seek to raise their station through work or education. She also makes reference to the system of representation, stating that “women ought to have representatives” (155) while also stating that “the whole system of representation is now, in this country, only a convenient handle for despotism” (155). Here, she’s referring to the fact that at that time, women did not have the right to vote, and neither did any man who did not own property. This meant that, in essence, only the wealthier had a voice in the elections, as most people did not own property. By describing the parliamentary system as “despotism” (155), Wollstonecraft is making a radical statement; it would take another 100 years after the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman for voting rights to be extended more widely to men without property in the UK, and women would not be given the vote until 1918.
Wollstonecraft argues that if not practiced correctly, parental rule is just another version of despotic rule, similar to the tyranny of monarchs. She suggests that parents who demand the blind obedience of their children are not fulfilling their parental duty to expand and develop the mind of their child. In particular, she attacks the way in which most parents treat their daughters; girls, of the middle and upper classes, would have been raised in a very sheltered environment, given little academic education, and were expected to follow the instructions of their parents in everything, including marriage. Wollstonecraft argues that the reason most women care more for decorum and manners—for how they seem—than for virtue and intelligence is because of how their parents have treated them. Similarly, this treatment is born from parents who value reputation more than morality, a cycle that perpetuates itself: “The duty expected from [girls] is, like all the duties arbitrarily imposed on women, more from a sense of propriety, more out of a respect for decorum, than reason; and thus taught slavishly to submit to their parents, they are prepared for the slavery of marriage” (164).
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