Status of Women

Although we didn’t go into great detail about Jean-Jacque Rousseau or Mary Wollstonecraft during class, I wanted to call attention to the great difference these two people had in their theories of female education.

Wollstonecraft, being a woman during the Enlightenment Era, was a huge advocate of progression in female education, proclaiming that women should be equal to men because women have just as much to offer society as men do. Rousseau, on the other hand, believed women should be tamed, sheltered, and held back from any type of knowledge not pertaining to the household. Wollstonecraft’s origin of her progressive idealism is clear: as a woman in a patriarchal society she wishes to also be seen as equally contributive to society. Rousseau, however, seems to be contradictory in his beliefs. His essay Origin of Inequality among Men seems to indicate that he understands and has explored the subject of inequality greatly, almost seeming as he would not be contradictory in his conclusion about women and their place in society. Although, his title does include the specification “Men” and not, per se, “People.”  I have also not read this essay but only a mere summary, and the summary indicated that females were not included in this discourse besides being a primal instinct and priority for men. How could someone so influential from an era of great, progressive, revolutionary thinking remain so focused on an idea that is so outdated and hackneyed, considering the fact that women themselves were arguing for their social and political status during the same time? Were men so focused on being served that they could idealize new governments, societies, economies, but not new social statuses for women?

I also wonder how strong that stereotype and expectation of women is even today. From watching other relationships of those close to me, I know that the concept has still not completely vanished even with our modern thought. What could still be holding society back from giving women equal treatment and expectations as men? What are society’s current views of independent women who take control and use their intelligence and motivation to become successful? Will these views always remain, as they have for hundreds, even thousands of years? What can anyone do to refute these archaic ideas and expectations of women and the hierarchy of society? Tell me what you think.