Wollstonecraft Vs Rousseau

Rousseau’s beliefs express fear that education will create unequal differences between the sexes. If women become educated, would the social order of perhaps housewives still exist? According to Rousseau, education should be given to all men so the government does not overpower the individual. He also believed that women should not be educated. ““Educate one like men.” Says Rousseau, “and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over us.””(Wollstonecraft, 191-194). Although it is not guaranteed, if women become educated they have the ability to overpower men. Wollstonecraft came from a more femanistic approach towards education. She believed that women should be properly educated as to not fall into the social norm of having less value in society than men. “This is the very point I am at. I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves,”( Wollstonecraft,191-194). Women, in her eyes, should be educated but rather to have power over
The two authors Rousseau and Wollstonecraft both believed that the government was corrupt for their individual reasons, and both agreed on the importance of education. However, the source of tension is created when discussing the poor judgement in giving up individual equality and freedom. “…mutual undertaking between the public and individuals…you form a part”( Rousseau Book 1, Chapter 7) For Rousseau, giving up one’s freedom for the equality of all men and the Social Contract was a positive act, whereas Wollstonecraft believed that women were negatively giving up their freedom, individualism, and their right to be educated due to social order. These two texts can teach us that Modernity has rationalized this issue, yet it’s still not solved. There will always be a source of discontent in a feminist world, and I agree with Wollstonecraft that real equality must include women as