A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

In nurseries, and boarding-schools, I fear, girls are first spoiled; particularly in the latter. A number of girls sleep in the same room, and wash together. (7.23)

Wollstonecraft might be all about women's rights, but she strongly believes that having women hang out together all the time is a bad thing. She thinks that they should be in mixed company as often as possible, because they don't learn anything about the world when they only hang around themselves.

Quote #8

To say the truth women are, in general, too familiar with each other, which leads to that gross degree of familiarity that so frequently renders the marriage state unhappy. (7.24)

For Wollstonecraft, women spend too much time in the company of other women, and this familiarity ends up leading to unhappy marriages. Maybe it's because women just hang out all day and talk about their husbands' shortcomings.

Quote #9

But sense will always preponderate; and if women be not, in general, brought more on a level with men, some superiour women, like the Greek courtezans, will assemble the men of abilities around them, and draw from their families many citizens, who would have stayed at home had their wives more sense. (12.73)

If society doesn't step up and give women more rights and advantages, all of the smart women will find ways to attract men to them. And the people who'll be truly sorry will be the wives that these men leave behind so that they can be with someone smarter.