Mary Wollstonecraft Timeline and Summary

Wollstonecraft opens Vindication by laying out all of the premises she needs us to accept if we're going to agree with her conclusions later on.
After arguing that reason is humanity's greatest power, Wollstonecraft shows why women have just as much of an ability to reason as men do. Reason is connected to the human soul, and since the soul can live beyond the body, the soul has no gender. Pretty clever, eh?
There are lots of famous writers who've talked about how women should only learn to be pretty and quiet. Wollstonecraft attacks these writers and points out the problems with their arguments point by point.
Once she's established the groundwork for women's education, Wollstonecraft argues that the English education system in general should be better. She thinks that boys and girls should be educated in the same classrooms and that all education should be public and free, at least up to a certain age.
Toward the end of the book, Wollstonecraft tells parents how they can help raise their children in a gender-equal society.
Wollstonecraft closes the book by asking her male readers to stop being tyrants and to help women develop their intellects so that all of society can benefit.