Non-Essentialism In Feminist Ethics By Mary Wollstonecraft

Non-Essentialism in Feminist Ethics Women in history have been overpowered, and oppressed by their male counterparts for thousands of years. Men have believed that women have particular universal, human traits that make them the inferior sex. However, there are women such as de Beauvoir and Wollstonecraft that are fighting for their right of equality. In this essay, I will argue that essentialism has tyrannized women, and has placed them as the subordinate group behind men. I will be analyzing the differences between Wollstonecraft and de Beauvoir versus Nietzsche in order to argue against essentialism, and develop a proper ethical theory of existentialism.
Mary Wollstonecraft is an eighteenth century British writer and philosopher and
Making this world a better place involves getting rid of essentialism, and looking rationally at every individual. In her book Wollstonecraft says, “women are almost sunk below the standard of rational creatures. Let their faculties have room to unfold, and their virtues to gain strength, and then determine where the whole sex must stand in the intellectual scale” (37). Men have not given women the proper chance to prove themselves equal to men because even today they are still being oppressed to be inferior to men. Women are just as intellectual as men and just as rational. We must think to ourselves, what exactly is ethical and moral? Giving certain characteristics to individuals or women because they belong to a specific group does not sound very moral to me. What is moral is allowing women same equal rights as every other man on this planet, and to not view them as objects for male entertainment. De Beauvoir argues for existentialism and I absolutely agree with her. In order for one to truly develop an ethical theory, then he or she must experience the life of that person. But the problem with existentialism is that it can only apply to people that are similar to you or are in your so-called group. Men will never develop a perfect ethical theory for women, because they cannot experience their lives. Only women can develop a proper ethical theory and then we as a society can implement this theory into the community. Existentialism is the proper way to develop an ethical, moral theory, however, it can only be developed if people from different groups work together in order create this theory. Essential traits cannot be developed because the experience of life is different for every single