Gender Inequality as Written about in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft & Sor Juana Ines

Generally there are a lot of definitions of the concept of gender equality and opinions regarding it are also different. Gender equality could be simply defined as “the state in which the access to rights, opportunities and resources is not dependent upon one’s gender.” (Powell 2009). In other words this is a condition of the world, when individual success is dependant upon person’s abilities and resources and not gender. The major aim of the opponents of gender equality is to build the connection between the societal disparities, which make people define men and women in different ways, create such conditions that women have the same access to the same resources and opportunities and address the issues of the position of women in particular societies and cultures. Lack of this equality could become a serious obstacle for the social and economic progress in any country or society. There are such places in the world, where women are not allowed to remain under the same roof with men during specific days of their cycle, in some areas in Asia or Middle East peoples continue to practice female circumcision, which is considered to be the means to control women’s sexuality and limit their rules only to barring children. Historically there were thousands of outstanding women, who managed to utilize their knowledge and strong spirits in order to convince their societies to accept new thinking patterns regarding the position of women and gender equality and its meaning. There are numerous historical examples of how women’s rights were ignored and limited even legally and they were forced to adhere to their husbands completely. “As Oxford law professor William Blackstone noted in his influential Commentaries on the Laws of England (1758): “The husband and wife are one person in law; that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs every thing.” (Powell 2009). The paper is focused upon consideration of the works and historical context of two female leaders Mary Wollstonecraft and Sor Juana Ines. Consideration of their biographies and works could be beneficial for understanding of their meaning of the fight for gender equality. The names of two outstanding women Mary Wollstonecraft and Sor Juana Ines are strongly associated with undefeated spirits and intelligence, moral strength and persistence in their confrontation of the social conventions related to lack of gender equality in their societies as well as in other countries of the world; living in different countries and during different historical periods, both women managed to use their own experience in order to prove their positions regarding gender equality and its meaning for the community.

Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 in London as the second child of Elizabeth Dixon, who hailed from Ireland. Her father Edwards John Wollstonecraft was a handkerchief weaver. His plans to become a farmer upon receiving the inheritance from his father did not come true and the family had to move several times due to deteriorating of their financial opportunities. Edward started to drink and Mary was involved into protecting her mother from his violent outbursts. Mary did not have the chance to access formal schooling to a needed extent and she used the library of one of her friends to explore books there.  The meeting with Fanny Blood, who was skilled in drawing, sewing and the piano, became an important point in Mary’s life. Mary started to earn her money at the age of 19, working as a live-in helper for wealthy widow. Certainly early family experience had significant impact upon formation of the character and views of Mary, who came to realize a lot about the problems, female meet on their life paths. She started to be involved more into social issues and crossed the English Channel with the aim to see the French revolution for herself. “She was welcomed by expatriots such as the American patriot Joel Barlow, English poet Helen Maria Williams, and Thomas Paine. She sided with liberal Girondists who, including Marquis de Condorcet, favored a constitutionally limited government and equal rights for women.” (Powell 2009). Wollstonecraft dreamt of equality of men and women in the future and she wrote about this “The man who can be contented to live with a pretty, useful companion, without a mind, has lost in voluptuous gratifications a taste for more refined enjoyments, he has never felt the calm satisfaction that refreshes the parched heart like the silent dew of heaven—of being beloved by one who could understand him.” (Wollstonecraft 2016). In her writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) Wollstonecraft discussed the rights of men and women for life, liberty and happiness. She assumed that women should also receive good education and then be free to start up their businesses, they should be able to build their professional careers and participate in voting. “I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex,” she declared. “Let woman share the rights, and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated. . .” (Wollstonecraft 2016). The ideas of Wollstonecraft were persuasive due to their simplicity and simple reasoning. In addition she proved to utilize all the principles, which she spoke about, in her one life. She managed to do the things, which were not done by any other woman before, she started up her career as a fulltime professional writer on serious topics without support from any aristocratic sponsor. Women were usually appreciated for their household keeping abilities and talents and Wollstonecraft became the first woman, who with her own example proved that women possess far greater potential, which should not be limited only because of social conventions and ill social norms. The key towards her success was probably related exactly to her own readiness to try out the ideas, she expressed and proved the idea that women should be also appreciated for their minds and characters and not only for their appearance and cooking skills. One more outstanding work of hers was produced during her time in Scandinavia – Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. These letters were written to an unnamed father of her child in America. They presented the collection of her comments about social and political issues, peppered with philosophy based on her own life experiences.

One more outstanding female, who made a great contribution into developing of the idea of equal rights for men and women, was Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. She was born in New Spain in 1651. There is not much information about her family recorded, as she was born to a couple of poor farmers. From the very childhood the girl stood out of the rest children due to her intelligence and ability to master different subjects. At the age of 12 she went to Mexico City, where she became a darling of the Viceroy’s court upon proving her erudition to a jury of intellectuals. There she had a unique opportunity to continue her studies, she participated in debates and soon became a polemical figure. Her activity and her position in relation to gender equality contributed to discussion of this problem. As she recounts, “the moment I heard this I began to plague my mother with insistent and importunate pleas: she should dress me in boys clothing and send me to Mexico City to live with relatives, to study and to be tutored at the University” (de la Cruz 1997). Most of her life Sor Juana spent in Mexico, but this was just a geographic fact, as her views were meaningful for the European traditions. During those times Mexico used to be a colony of Spain and thus Spanish patriarchal traditions formed the gender relations in Mexico as well. “At this time, Mexico bore the name Nueva España. If Sor Juana was not simply at odds with an entirely European history of thought, culture, politics, and economics, then she is at least caught in the dynamic interface of this European tradition and Mexico’s status as a subjugated power.    This interface will be examined further later, but for now the play between Western history and the life of Sor Juana must be treated.” (Merrim 1999). In order to understand the attitude towards education of women in New Spain, it was important to consider the situation in the Middle Ages, when women could be educated purely in monastic settings. Stephanie Merrim, who studied the biography of Sor Juana in Early Modern Women’s Writing and Sor Juana Inès de la Cruz, wrote that: “convent schools teaching the trivium and running scriptoria where women copied manuscripts, male teachers with female disciples, and… a general appreciation for the learned lady” (Merrim 1999). Thus it is evident that women were able to get their education only via religious institutions. One the one hand religious institutions related education to moral obligations and strict demands and on the other hand they provided a kind of universal system of education without considering of the social status of the student. Great changes to the European culture were brought by the Protestant Reformation. Taking into consideration Luther’s commitment to the Bible, it is clear that he supported the need of universal access to it. This explains that Protestantism  “fostered literacy and resulted in expanded elementary education in for girls” (Merrim 1999). Such historical factors contributed to the discourse about women’s right for education. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was one of the brightest participants of this discourse. In the same way like Mary Wollstonecraft, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz also utilized her own example in order to prove her position about gender equality.

Overall, Mary Wollstonecraft and Sor Juana Ines are considered to belong to the best historical examples of women, fighting for gender equality; both being intelligent and morally strong, they managed to overcome their own life challenges and motivate other women follow their examples.

Works cited:

Cruz, Juana Inés de la. Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings. London: Penguin, 1997

Merrim, Stephanie. Early Modern Women’s Writing and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Vanderbilt University Press; 1st edition, 1999

Powell, Jim. A vindication that Mary Wollstonecraft was right.  The Guardian, 2009

Wollstonecraft, Mary.  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wisehouse Classics – Original 1792 Edition. Wisehouse Classics, 2016

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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