Single Idea 21006

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 12. Feminism]

Full Idea

Let woman share the rights and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated, or justify that authority that chains such a weak being to her duty.

Gist of Idea

If women share rights with men, they will exhibit similar virtues

Source

Mary Wollstonecraft (Vindication of the Rights of Women [1792], p.294), quoted by Amartya Sen - The Idea of Justice 18 'Wrath'

Book Reference

Sen, Amartya: 'The Idea of Justice' [Penguin 2010], p.391


A Reaction

Presumably this implies that if emancipation led to women exceeding men in such virtues, there would be some justification for imposing the chains on the men rather than the women. Consider wars. Probably best to just abandon chains.