Mary Wollstonecraft deserves recognition as an important British reform writer for her vigorous agitation for political and social improvement during the 1780s and 1790s. She used her works to explore and expose the inequalities and injustices present in the patriarchal system of rule and its institutions. She objected to social, political, and economic inequalities based upon class and gender. She participated during the 1790s in the revolutionary debate about the "Rights of Man" and was instrumental in broadening the focus to include the "Rights of Woman." As an exponent of middle-class Enlightenment thought, Wollstonecraft promoted moral and social improvement through improved education and the exercise of reason over emotion. She argued that this was especially necessary for women because of their limited educations, their overdeveloped sensibilities, and their limited opportunities for independent existence. Her work illustrates the need for rational thought and development in order to claim political...