Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 2, 2022
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a 1792 book of feminist philosophy by Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and could be "companions" to their husbands. Instead of viewing women as ornaments or property, she maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men. Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the Rights of Woman by Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly which stated that women should only receive a domestic education; she commented to launch a broad attack against sexual double standards and to indict men for encouraging women to be excessively emotional. She wrote the Rights of Woman hurriedly in order to respond quickly; she died before completing a more thoughtful second volume. (This article is part of a featured topic: Mary Wollstonecraft.)