Mary Wolstonecraft's View On Empowering Women

Although all feminists have been concerned with empowering women both in their private lives and in society as a whole, not all of them have sought equality in either the public or private sphere.

Liberal feminists, however, have been keen endorsers of formal equality in the public sphere. Claiming women are strongly discriminated against under the law - in terms of equal pay and, in the past, equal education and the right to vote - they have supported anti-discrimination legislation concerning the lives of women outside of the home. Originating with Mary Wolstonecraft's "Vindication of the rights of women"(1792), they called for greater legal equality between men and women - most notably in Wolstencraft's plea for an increase in the education of women. Hoping that by educating women they would cease to exist merely as sexual objects of male desire and gain a new found respect as individuals with valued minds. As women
Conservative feminists have agreed to a small extent, suggesting men and women should be "equal but different". Due to their recognition of the innate difference between the sexes equality does not arise as an issue, as they believe the two sexes naturally find fulfilment in different ways. Amanda Platel has argues that, contrary to radical, socialist and liberal feminist beliefs, women can find deep fulfilment in the private sphere, and so should not be discouraged to step into the role of housewife. Like some extreme members of radical feminism, conservative feminists have claimed that attempts to be equal on men's terms, according to men's values and interests, are doomed to failure and simply create a new form of female exploitation and manipulation, with grave social consequences for the upbringing of children and the natural relationship between the