| BACK TO LIBRARY |     CONTENTS    | INTRO-BEGIN | "I declare against     all power built on prejudices..." A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN by Mary Wollstonecraft originally published 1792

                  Introduction
  (i) Introduction by Mary Wollstonecraft
 (ii) Letter from M.W. to M. Talleyrand-Perigord, Late Bishop of Autun
(iii) Prefatory note by Mary Wollstonecraft.

                  Chapter I
The Rights and Involved Duties of Man Considered

                  Chapter II
The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed

                  Chapter III
The Same Subject Continued

                  Chapter IV
Observation on the State of Degradation to Which Woman is Reduced by Various Causes

                  Chapter V, part 1 (Section I)
                  Chapter V, part 2 (Sections II, III, IV, V)
Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt

                  Chapter VI
The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has Upon the Character

                  Chapter VII
Modesty - Comprehensively Considered, and Not as a Sexual Virtue

                  Chapter VIII
Morality, Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation

                  Chapter IX
Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society.

                  Chapter X
Parental Affection

                  Chapter XI
Duty to Parents

                  Chapter XII
On National Education

                  Chapter XIII
Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance of Women Generates; with Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement That a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected to Produce

[Ed. Notes: Chapter V was divided into two parts because of its length, but it was not divided this way in the original publications. In addition, and for the same reason, some lengthy paragraphs in the original document have been divided in this rendition, and bold-face text periodically has been used as well to highlight passages and facilitate readability where this emphasis is not contained in the original publications of this work.]