Mary Wollstonecraft: The Mother of Modern FeminismMary Wollstonecraft was a radical, self-taught philosopher who wrote about women's liberation and empowerment. She strongly expressed her views on women's right to good education and career opportunities. She pioneered the debate on women's rights, inspiring many writers and philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries to also fight for women's rights. She not only criticized men for not granting women their rights, she also criticized women for being voiceless and subjugated. Her life and the events of her time, accompanied by her strong will, surely affected the way she chose to live her life and form her own philosophies. Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London on April 27, 1759. a poor family of 7 children of whom she was the second. She received no formal education; only his brother, Edward, was to benefit from this advantage. His father was a tyrannical man who abused and bullied his mother. When Mary reached the age of 19, she decided to leave home and find her own path in life. She could not tolerate seeing a woman mistreated by her man and so she helped her sister Eliza by hiding her from her husband until they separated. Then, with the help of his sister and their friend Francis Fanny Blood, they founded a school. Although this school quickly collapsed, Mary used what she learned from this experience to formulate her theories on education. After this, Mary moved to Ireland to work as a governess to the family of Lord Kings Borough. She also had her influence on the girls she helped care for by teaching them to be independent. In 1787, Mary returned to London pursuing a literary career as a translator....... middle of paper..... By the 18th century, however, the growing focus on feminism had led scholars, such as Virginia Sapiro, to focusing more on his views and philosophy, which renewed interest in his works. One of the first critical readers of Wollstonecraft's "The Rights of Woman" was Hannah Mather Crocker (1752-1829). She wrote her book "Observation on the Actual Rights of Women with their Proper Duties, Consistent with Scripture, Reason and Common Sense", which was the first American work on women's rights. In her book there were many ideas similar to Mary's: the intellectual potential and equal abilities of men and women, friendship between a man and a woman should be the basis of their marriage and the need for educational reform for women. Crocker did not, however, raise the issue of women's rights to employment or political citizenship. (Botting and Carey. 710-12).