Mary Wollstonecraft had many accomplishments for a woman during the time period of which she lived. Mary Wollstonecraft was the first person to speak about woman's rights, she was a spinster which was very rare, and she also wrote a book entitled Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Mary wished "to see women neither heroines nor brutes; but reasonable creatures." The essence of her though was that a woman's mind is as good as a man's. During Mary's time, to speak of anybody's rights, especially woman's rights, was a radical act. .
As a child, Mary held the household together. Her father was an alcoholic who constantly would beat and abuse his children. Mary also learned to read critically and widely, French, and composition. These skills, her curiosity, and determination are all the things she needed to be a reformer. Mary wrote the book, Thoughts of the Education of Daughters, after her fried died of childhood fever. Her book went unnoticed. Mary then wrote Vindication of the Rights of Men, in response to Burke's book, Reflections on the Revolution in France. In this book, the statesman stated his doubts about events in France. Her book sold well. Vindication of the Rights of Woman was her next book. This book was very successful and was side to be the "best book to be written about women yet." .
Mary later threw herself into the Thames after discovering that her husband was living with another woman. Mary then married again to William Godwin, a famous philosophizing serpent. Wollstonecraft can ne recognized as the inspiration to the woman's rights movement.
Shirley Tomkievicz wrote "The First Feminist" to inform the readers of Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist, who wrote a book to prove that her sex was as intelligent as the other. Shirley Tomkievicz achieved this by using primary and secondary sources in her document. The article refers to letters, "Imlay's letters to Mary have not survived .