Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/99

Rh Women, I allow, may have different duties to fulfil; but they are human duties, and the principles that hould regulate the dicharge of them, I turdily maintain, mut be the ame.

To become repectable, the exercie of their undertanding is neceary, there is no other foundation for independence of character; I mean explicitly to ay that they mut only bow to the authority of reaon, intead of being the modet laves of opinion.

In the uperiour ranks of life how eldom do we meet with a man of uperior abilities, or even common acquirements? The reaon appears to me clear, the tate they are born in was an unnatural one. The human character has ever been formed by the employments the individual, or clas, purues; and if the faculties are not harpened by neceity, they mut remain obtue. The argument may fairly be extended to women; for, eldom occupied by erious buines, the puruit of pleaure gives that inignificancy to their character which renders the ociety of the great o inipid. The ame want of firmnes, produced by a imilar caue, forces them both to fly from themelves to noiy pleaures, and artificial paions, till vanity takes place of every ocial affection, and the characteritics of humanity can carcely be dicerned. Such are the bleings of civil governments, as they are at preent organized, that wealth and female oftnes equally tend to debae mankind, and are produced by the ame caue; but allowing women to be rational creatures, they hould be incited to acquire virtues which they may call their own, for how can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?