ABSTRACT
Many of the key ideas in Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are now very widely accepted in Western academia and public thought, or have been significantly developed since the book was published in 1792. As a result, it is now mainly read either as an introduction to the basic ideas and origins of feminist philosophy, or as an inspiring historical document. Wollstonecraft's ideas about the cultural influences on the production of gender characteristics continue to challenge strongly held views about the natural differences between men and women. In general, the feminist schools of thought that follow Wollstonecraft's Rights of Woman challenge these scientific or religious positions by stressing the artificial, social production of "sexual difference". Other critics argue that Wollstonecraft's cultural criticism did not go far enough, because it does not challenge contemporary beliefs about the differences between races and classes as well as gender.
