Who is Mary Wollstonecraft from Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education: A Biographical Introduction and what is their importance?

Mary Wollstonecraft was an "early leader for women's rights and feminine equality" in late eighteenth century feminist theory. She lived during the 1776 American and 1789 French Revolutions. She believed middle-class women were intellectual equals to their male counterparts and not just wives and mothers. Mary Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 London and lived till 1797. She was the daughter of an unsuccessful alcoholic father who abused her mother. At age 19 she was employed as companion to a wealthy widow but returned to help her dying mother and protect her younger sisters with whom she opened a school in 1784. She became a writer and was governess for three daughters of a wealthy family.