Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759–1797)

Abstract

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was one of the first major social theorists to examine gender‐based oppression and inequality. Her work, based in early liberal theoretical traditions, did not just focus on the status of and relations between women and men, but placed gender relations in a framework of understanding various bases of inequality and oppression. She developed a political psychology through which we can understand the relationship of oppressor and oppressed to inequality, as well as the challenges of societal transformation. She offers a theory of education and socialization to explain both current problems and likely solutions.