 Wollstonecraft states that currently many women are silly and superficial ( she refers to them , for example , as " spaniels " and " toys " ) , but argues that this is not because of an innate deficiency of mind but rather because men have denied them access to education . Wollstonecraft is intent on illustrating the limitations that women 's deficient educations have placed on them ; she writes : " Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman 's sceptre , the mind shapes itself to the body , and , roaming round its gilt cage , only seeks to adorn its prison . " She implies that , without the encouragement young women receive from an early age to focus their attention on beauty and outward accomplishments , women could achieve much more . 
