Asked by e
“Is not that government then very defective, and very unmindful of the happiness of one half of its members that does not provide for honest, independent women, by encouraging them to fill respectable stations?”
–Mary Wollstonecraft,
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,
1790
Why does Wollstonecraft consider a government that ignores the happiness of women defective?
It fails to uphold the social contract.
It is not honest or respectable.
It fails to provide for a separation of powers.
It is not democratic, but rather tyrannical.
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It fails to uphold the social contract.
Wollstonecraft’s argument is that government exists to secure the rights, virtue, and happiness of all citizens; to ignore half the population (women) is a violation of those fundamental duties. While she also condemns the resulting tyranny of male domination, her central critique is that such a government breaks the social-contract principles of justice and equal treatment.
Wollstonecraft’s argument is that government exists to secure the rights, virtue, and happiness of all citizens; to ignore half the population (women) is a violation of those fundamental duties. While she also condemns the resulting tyranny of male domination, her central critique is that such a government breaks the social-contract principles of justice and equal treatment.
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