Equal Opportunity to Learn for Women During the Feminism Era

Mary Astell, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, and Mary Wollstonecraft have many things in common. All three of these women wanted to improve what people thought of women in their time. Women were "property" of men during this time period. These three ladies believed that that fact would never change unless women were given a better education. All three of these women wanted equality in education, social settings, politics, and economics. All three ladies were feminists.

In "A Serious Proposal to the Ladies" Astell wanted to create a place for women to go to study and learn. She knew that to men, women were not wise. They were not capable of learning and were too busied with fashions and other things. She knew her serious proposal would not make the men very happy, but she believed women were just as capable of learning as men. She says on page 107, "...and think women as capable of learning as men are." She believed women were as capable as learning as men were. She just thought that women needed more opportunity to learn. In here eyes, women needed equal opportunity to learn.

In "Letters" Montague writes a letter to her daughter concerning her granddaughter. She tells her daughter that she wants her daughter to learn. She also wants her to learn to be on her own since she is not going to marry. However, she wants her granddaughter to keep her knowledge to herself and not let the whole world know about it. She says on page 109, "ignorance is bold, and knowledge reserved." She also thinks that if the men find out about her granddaughter's knowledge they will try to take it from her by trying to keep her from improving her education. However, like Astell, Montague also believes women should learn. She just believes they should learn in such a way that the men will not find out about it.