PERSPECTIVES ON THE PAST
Back
Transcript of Audio Clip
Sue Peabody, Washington State University, Vancouver
WomenÕs voices constitute a kind of Òhidden historyÓ in the history of ideas. For centuries, philosophers and historians ignored womenÕs experience, assuming it was trivial and unimportant in comparison to the achievements of men.
But one of hallmarks of Enlightenment thought was to be skeptical of old, received traditions. Philosophers like Locke and Rousseau, argued that people were not bound by some inherent nature, but could be improved through education.
Enlightenment thinkersÕ willingness to break with the past, and challenge old ideas in public forums, created a space for new, feminist thinkers to break out.
In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published her most important work: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which called for women and men to be educated equally. She advocated a national system of co-educational day schools where boys and girls would learn together to become active, participatory citizens.
Although WollstonecraftÕs calls for educational reform brought no immediate results during her lifetime, she inspired later feminists across the Atlantic, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. By the end of the nineteenth century, universal public education for boys and girls had become the norm in both Europe and America.
| 
View the Video Online
