Mary Wollstonecraft

In celebration of Women’s History Month, I have chosen to feature Mary Wollstonecraft as our first featured woman of The Dinner Party soon to be followed by my personal favorite, Susan B. Anthony.

Here is a wonderful excerpt written by Judy Chicago and featured in The Dinner Party book.

“In this book [A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)], Wollstonecraft took a radical philosophical position, arguing that democratic principles that defined the French and American revolutions must be extended to women; if women failed to become men’s equals, the progress of human knowledge and virtue would be halted. And if women were to contribute to the development of the human race, their education would have to prepare them to do so, something that could only happen if men and women were similarly taught. Moreover, she insisted that the tyranny of men had to be broken both politically and socially if women to become free to determine their own destinies.”

For more information on Mary Wollstonecraft and her contemporaries, order The Dinner Party book from Through the Flower. It is an amazing resource, and certainly a starting point for anyone who wants to do their own research on the women of The Dinner Party.