ABSTRACT
Mary Wollstonecraft's achievement was to articulate a basic principle of feminism—that women are essentially, entirely human. She argues that society should be reformed to reflect this, thus confronting and defying prejudice. The work is repetitive and often digressive, making it difficult for readers to follow the main threads of Wollstonecraft's thought, and it lacks evidence beyond her own observations and opinions. As a convincing and moving polemic, Rights of Woman articulates Wollstonecraft's belief in the fundamental humanity of women. Wollstonecraft's bold, polemic style, matched with her personal reputation for rebelling against convention, has been central to the positive impact that Rights of Woman has had on readers in some eras and societies. Wollstonecraft's work continued to be well known, but had been almost completely discredited by attacks on her personal life and her political radicalism. With feminist methods and ideas important to a huge range of disciplines, Wollstonecraft's basic principles of feminism are relevant across a wide spectrum of subjects.
