"Their Minds Are Not in a Healthy State" - A Very Short Summary about Marry Wollstonecraft's Work
Summary from a Mary Wollstonecraft «A Vindication of the Rights of Woman » (1792) excerpt.
Excerpt taken from Estelle B. Freedman’s « The Essentialist Feminist Reader » (2007)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 -1797) is probably one of the most famous feminist in
nowadays current feminists’ movements. ['Nowadays' is an adverb, so an adjective is better here.] She embodies a radical view about women’s rights and especially about women’s empowerment.
Support
of for the French Revolution [I'd revise to 'She supported the French revolution and she had a true fondness...] she had a true fondness for the Enlightenment critique. But she deplored that this critique only appl
ied [apply is present tense, applied is past. Since you used 'deplored' in past tense, 'apply' should be in past tense as well] to men and not to women. Thus, she extended it to be applicable for both men and women. Consequently, her theories were all aimed
at finding what could deliver women from men’s authority. [I might revise this to 'Consequently, her theories were all aimed at delivering women from men’s authority.]
As a people from the eighteen century, she conceives that there is biological differences between men and women. Indeed, she explains that men are more likely to be
strength strong [strength is a noun, but you need a verb here]than women. But she also points out that women’s mind
s can be as tough
ness ['tough is an adjective, 'toughness' is a noun] as men’s mind
s. Unfortunately, educational habits for women enfeeble them to false refinement. In this way, she declares that “their mind
s are not in a healthy state”. Rather than being
learned taught, women are instruct
ed to act like a child. They are urge
d to marry a man and have children without being able to raise children or govern a family so they can be dominate
d by their husband. Mary Wollstonecraft endeavors [I think 'implores' would sound a little more natural than 'endeavors'--we don't usually use 'endeavor' with an object] women to cease being childish and endorse their duties, namely act
ing like “rational creatures” and became a virtuous woman and an accomplish
ed [add the 'ed' to make it an adjective; 'accomplish' is a verb] citizen and mother.
Hence, Mary Wollstonecraft seems to operate the same call for women’s education as her predecessors and contemporaries. But what changed with her is that she didn’t stressed the particular role of women regarding what
’s God could have
been chosen for them but she stressed the common humanity of women and men. Furthermore, she claimed political rights for women. At her time, she had been suffering from conservatives’ attacks for what they consider as immoral positions but also for her immoral way of life (she had an open affair and even gave birth to a child out of wedlock). However, she became a touchstone in feminism history.
N.B : When I right about what historical figures’ thoughts, I never know which tense I must use. If someone can help me with that, I’ll be really happy to read your advice
s [for some reason, we only use the word 'advice' as singular.]