Mary Wollstonecraft (Emma Schambers)

Hello, I am Mary Wollstonecraft. I was born in Spitalfields, London, on April 27, 1759. My mother died in 1780, and since my dad abused me, I decided to go my own way. In 1784, my friend, Fanny, my sister, Eliza, and I established a school in Newington Green. From my experience here, I wrote Thoughts on the Education of Daughters which was finished in 1787. I became governess for the Kingsborough Family in Ireland when Fanny died in 1785. In 1788, I returned home to London and became a translator and advisor to Joseph Johnson, who was a publisher of radical texts. I then published my most famous piece, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, in 1792. I strongly encouraged educational reform. I believe that women should have the same educational opportunities as men. My other pieces of work include Maria and The Wrongs of Women. As I went along in life, I got pregnant by Captain Gilbert Imlay, an American merchant and adventurer, in 1792. Our daughter was named Fanny, named after my best friend who died. Then again 1797, I got pregnant again with William Godwin, the founder of philosophical anarchism. Our daughter Mary was born, but then ten days later I died due to complications from this childbirth on September 10th. I often wrote about these scandalous years of mine. I hope through my works that I inspired others to want educational reform and to treat women with greater respect.