Women Being Important in Society

In the nineteenth century, women were treated completely differently than men. While men were allowed to have opinions and requests for changes, women had to stay at home and take care of things. They were not allowed to vote, and for doing basic things such as cooking and cleaning, they did not need an education for that. Women were viewed as fragile. Men had the opportunity to vote, go to a university and get an education. Women felt like they were not a part of society. All that was expected of them was to have children and to be committed to being full-time moms and being submissive to their husbands. The fact that women did not get a chance to get an education demonstrates that their voices did not matter, it demonstrates that they were seen as people not worthy of flourishing in life. If a woman lacked innocence or did not know how to cook and clean, she could be seen as useless. All these expectations that women had must have been really frustrating and suffocating. Men never had to deal with worrying about anything since they never had to deal with getting denied rights. Obviously, men had expectations, but those expectations do not get in the way of anything. A man could work, go to college, or not do any of those things, and still have more power over women. Why were women lacking opportunities in this era? Were men afraid that women would be just as smart as them? Did they believe that if women decided to fight for their rights that once they got what they wanted, they would ruin things for society? Now, even if women were to get an education, or be able to vote, their opinions would still not matter. A woman could be a teacher, and probably makes less money than a man who is also a teacher, this only proves that women have always been seen as less. In the book written by Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of The Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft believed that women should be able to have the same rights as men, she believed that the relationship between men and women would have improved if women were able to get the same rights as men. She felt that women should not feel like they were less than men. Wollstonecraft did not believe that women are only useful for men, but that they are useful for themselves as well; she did not want women to have this fixed mindset that they are only meant to be fragile and sensitive. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman proves that women’s rights were not about women wanting to have power over men, but it was about women wanting to feel powerful and feel important in society just like men.

In Jane Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudice, readers are introduced to Mrs. Bennet is a mother to five daughters. “The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.” Notice that it says “her life.” If Wollstonecraft ever met someone like Mrs. Bennet they may not have seen eye to eye because Mrs. Bennet disregards her daughters’ feelings and opinions when it comes to marriage; all she wants is for her daughters to be financially secure. However, Mrs. Bennet cannot be blamed for her behavior toward her daughters because her whole life she was raised to believe that women should be submissive to men, if that was not the case, then she would tell her daughters to marry for love and to marry if they would be happy. Mrs. Bennet’s mindset is focused on marriage because without marriage, women have no value. The Norton Anthology English Literature The Romantic Period has an excerpt from Mary Wollstonecraft’s book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In the text, we read: “And how can woman be expected to co-operate unless she know why she ought to be virtuous? unless freedom strengthen her reason till she comprehend her duty, and see what manner it is connected with her real good?” If women had freedom like men, they would not mind doing their typical everyday duties. A woman is still able to show her husband she appreciated him by cooking for him, maintaining the house clean, and at the same time having the freedom to voice her opinions. Apart from Mrs. Bennet, we are also introduced to Elizabeth Bennet, she is intelligent and is not afraid to speak her mind. “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.” By reading this, readers are able to understand that Elizabeth, even though being a woman, is not afraid of being assertive and says what is on her mind. In Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft believed that women should have the right to be more than just housewives. Elizabeth Bennet represents an independent woman who is not controlled by what others do. She does not want marriage to be financially secure. Despite living in a society where men have more power, she ends up marrying Darcy but not for the reasons Mrs.Bennet believed in marriage; she marries Mr. Darcy out of love. Elizabeth can also demonstrate how marriage should not be a priority and that there is more to life than being married.

In the text, Modern Fiction, writer Virginia Woolf, discusses how she wants writers to write directly from the heart, to demonstrate originality in their stories. Now, it is clear that Modern Fiction is not centralized on the rights of women. However, the fact that it was written by a woman who believed that aspiring writers should not follow a certain style can in a way show that Woolf did not believe that stories should not be written in the way that men write. “The writer seems constrained. not by his own free will but by some powerful and unscrupulous tyrant who has him in thrall, to provide a plot, to provide comedy, tragedy, love interest, and an air of probability embalming the whole so impeccable that if all his figures were to come to life they would find themselves dressed down to the last button of their coats in the fashion of the hour. The tyrant is obeyed; the novel is done to a turn. But sometimes, more and more often as time goes by, we suspect a momentary doubt, a spasm of rebellion, as the pages fill themselves in the customary way. Is life like this? Must novels be like this?” In short, what Woolf was trying to say is that she believed that writers have this urge to go against what they are taught to write, but then they become afraid and instead write how they feel is correct. Woolf does not like this because she believes that when it comes to writing, the writer should not feel like he or she is not allowed to express her emotions on paper. “There is no limit to the horizon, and […] nothing – no ‘method’, no experiment, even of the wildest – is forbidden, but only falsity and pretence. “The proper stuff of fiction does not exist; everything is the proper stuff of fiction, every feeling, every thought; every quality of brain and spirit is drawn upon; no perception comes amiss.” Woolf wanted audiences to comprehend that when it comes to writing, every thought or feeling that is being put on paper, matters. Could it be that writers like Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf, who are both women, felt free through their writing? Perhaps writing was a way for them to be able to get others to listen to them. Through their stories, Wollstonecraft, Austen, and Woolf, all became an inspiration and proved that speaking their minds against the control of women was not wrong at all because what they wanted was not for them to be selfish at all. The article, Feminism In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, discusses how the protagonist in Mrs. Dalloway has to deal with the concerns and problems created by male power in her household and society as a whole. “Virginia Woolf is not a feminist in the sense that she wants women to have more rights and convenience, but a feminist in the sense that she wants a intellectual acceptance, of women and their world, by men. They are the women who see the world separately, but their outlook is equally important and considerable as that of men.” This was Wollstonecraft’s belief too, just like Woolf, she also believed that the perspectives of a woman are just as valuable as the perspectives of a man. Both Woolf and Wollstonecraft wanted to be part of a society where women and men could get along and not be in competition with one another, having children and obeying men should not be all that a woman should do. Wollstonecraft wanted people to understand that women deserved to feel listened to and not ignored simply because they were women. Men should not make assumptions based on gender; for a man to believe a woman is weak because of her sex, only illustrates that he is underestimating her in every way. It is not only men who are intelligent and brave. Women, like men, are able to make smart decisions in life. ​​“But, till men become attentive to the duty of a father, it is vain to expect women to spend that time in their nursery which they, wise in their generation, choose to spend at their glass, for this exertion of cunning is only an instinct of nature to enable them to obtain indirectly a little of that power of which they are unjustly denied a share: for, if women are not permitted to enjoy legitimate rights, they will render both men and themselves vicious, to obtain illicit privileges.” This was another way of Wollstonecraft saying that women are going to get their rights one way or another, if obtaining rights meant women would need to commit unlawful things to get what they want, they would become insane or crazy to get what they want. Wollstonecraft expresses how she disagrees with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s beliefs, which is that a woman should not consider herself to be independent, and in order to be desirable, a woman should always do what a man asks of her. Her response was that it was all nonsense; she believed men should get rid of their pride. There is nothing wrong with women being independent and feeling powerful.

Wollstonecraft says that women are taught to admire men, to go for them for comfort, “Educate women like men, says Rousseau, 'and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over us.' This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.” Wollstonecraft had no interest in having a society where women would take over and men would become submissive. Her main focus was that she wanted women to feel like they were enough without any validation from men.

As Expressed, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is not about women wanting power over men. It is about how women should be treated fairly and have their voices heard in society. Mary Wollstonecraft did not agree with women focusing on being viewed as pure or innocent; she did not agree with women having to only focus on being committed to their husbands, but she wanted women to understand that they are more than just their beauty, they are more than being mothers, and they should not apologize at all for fighting what belongs to them. Characters like Elizabeth Bennet illustrate how women should not care about what men think of them, but instead they should focus on their own goals and what they want in their future. Writers like Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, and Virginia Woolf, were not afraid to speak their minds despite being women and despite having men go against their beliefs; all three demonstrated assertiveness and it can be seen in their writings. They exemplified that being women should not prevent them from standing up for themselves and other women. All three writers dwelled on equality between men and women. Women should not be denied an education and should also have the same rights as men; women asking to be treated fairly and having the same opportunities as men should not be viewed as women complaining about their roles in society. While there is nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom or doing typical everyday chores, that should not make a man assume that they have no value. Treating women with dignity only shows that they are being seen as a significant part of society. In order for the relationship between men and women to improve, men should not have been against women fighting for their rights, because in the end, it was not a way to attack men; it was not a way to say that men do not deserve an education or opportunities, but it was a way to demonstrate that women have the right to feel powerful and important in society. Women should be allowed to flourish without the need to depend on men.