 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy . In it , Wollstonecraft argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society and then proceeds to redefine that position , claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be " companions " to their husbands rather than mere wives . Instead of viewing women as ornaments to society or property to be traded in marriage , Wollstonecraft maintains that they are human beings deserving of the same fundamental rights as men . Large sections of the Rights of Woman respond <unk> to conduct book writers such as James Fordyce and John Gregory and educational philosophers such as Jean @-@ Jacques Rousseau , who wanted to deny women an education . ( Rousseau famously argues in Émile ( 1762 ) that women should be educated for the pleasure of men . ) 
