The late 1700s was a period that saw the birth of many new ideologies, in particular revolutionary ones. It also created new concepts that are now commonplace in politics, such as citizenship, equality under the law and individual freedom. These concepts were not only important from a nationalistic perspective, but they also changed the way people thought about gender.
For example, Olympe de Gouges published her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791. In it, she criticized how the Revolution had focused so much on the equality of men but did little to address the inequality of the genders. She was tried and executed for her writings.
In the UK, Mary Wollstonecraft was prompted to write A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects in 1792. In this work, she addresses double moral standards and the unfair expectations of women in society.
Other early defenders were Jeremy Bentham in his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1781) and Marquis de Condorcet in his For the Admission to the Rights of Citizenship For Women of 1790.
These authors contributed to what became known as the feminism movement in subsequent centuries.
At this time, between the late 1700s and early 1800s, women were considered to be inferior to men. When the world faced two massive revolutions, the American and the French, in which equal rights were proclaimed to all men, no one care for the women's situation. In the United States the common topics were related to equality, freedom and the sovereignty of the people, but all these ideas refer only to white men.
To Abigail Adams, the President's wife, who helped to write the Independence texts, women's rights could no longer be ignored; in the letters she sent to her husband, she asked him to "remember the ladies" when writing the laws of the New State. She knew, based on her experience, the social and legal limitations of women, as well as their lack of intellectual opportunities. She believed in the equal rights of all people, including women and black people as well. She also believed that everyone had the right to a good education.
In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women". In this text she made a defense of women's rights against their social and legal annulment. This literary piece is still considered as the beginning of the feminist contemporary movement. In it she argues that women should have the same educational opportunities and rights as men, she calls for equality between the sexes in particular areas of life; for her, only considering this women's rights, women can contribute properly to society.
Revolutionary and Early America remained a place of male privilege despite all the writings of feminist women across America. Nevertheless, this helped to create a new ideal for wives as "Republican Mothers" who could teach their children, their sons especially, to be rational and intelligent individuals. This brought a new responsibility towards women education, ad helped make husbands and wives more equal within the family.
