# The Founding Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft **URL:** **Published:** June 4, 2020 --- Mary Wollstonecraft was a true liberal who championed the rights of all but the domination of none - what we cherish today as equality. Mary Wollstonecraft had a tough life, her father was an abusive drunk and her families’ economic fortunes were ever worsening. Tired of the oppressive nature of home life Mary left and attempted to become an independent woman something that was extremely uncommon in the 18th-century. Despite the challenges in here way Mary became a respected public intellectual in her day writing two Vindications of the rights of men and women in which she discusses how to achieve a more equal and virtuous society that takes into account both men and women’s rights and progress. ## Related Content: [The Subjugation of Women](https://www.libertarianism.org/essays/subjugation-women), written by Mary Wollstonecraft [Mary Wollstonecraft–Equal Rights for Women](https://www.libertarianism.org/essays/mary-wollstonecraft-equal-rights-women), written by Jim Powell [Mary Wollstonecraft: Individualist Feminist](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/mary-wollstonecraft-individualist-feminist-classical-republican), Classical Republican, written by Paul Meany