Summary Of Patriarchy Comparing Wollstonecraft And Goldman

The two thinkers that will be analyzed in this essay are Mary Wollstonecraft and Emma Goldman, they both write about the freedom of women; Wollstonecraft wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" 1792 and Goldman wrote "The Tragedy of Woman's Emancipation" 1911. The aim of the essay is to compare the political thought and ideology of both thinkers in relation to the forms of resistance against patriarchal power, to see what tools each thinker suggests to tackle patriarchy. I will argue that Mary Wollstonecraft and Emma Goldman both use the same basic forms of resistance against patriarchy but in very different ways. They both use Education/Reason, Passion, and Masters Tool, Wollstonecraft resists patriarchy by using education as a way to eliminate passion and thereby use the masters tool …show more content…
Moreover, Goldman argues that there has to be a balance between men and women, we have to be equal by recognizing our biological differences. Initially, when women were first trying to gain rights, passions were used as a form of resistance against patriarchal power by women not providing passion to men. This was made possible by education, Wollstonecraft argues that the more women are educated the more they will not feel passion, because they will be so immersed in the intellectual sphere. One hundred and nineteen years later what has happened is that women have now begun to see themselves so far apart from men, but they also feel an "empty void" that they do not know how to fill, argues Goldman. Thus, Passion is an arguable form of resistance against patriarchal power, Wollstonecraft agrees it must be used coupled with education, whereas Goldman says it cannot be used because without passion we are depriving women on natural