Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Women do not want power over men, they want power over themselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Women seek empowerment and autonomy rather than dominance over men.
This quote by Mary Wollstonecraft highlights the desire for self-empowerment among women, asserting that the true aim is not to exert control over others, particularly men, but rather to attain control over their own lives, choices, and destinies. It emphasizes the importance of individual agency and the pursuit of personal freedom in the context of gender equality.
Themes
EmpowermentAutonomyGender EqualitySelf-ControlFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on gender roles at a women's rights conference.
More from Mary Wollstonecraft
All quotes βMake women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
The divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Women are degraded by the propensity to enjoy the present moment, and, at last, despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!
Mary WollstonecraftRead
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