I've rated this 5/5 because it such an important book, which still resonates today. However, it is difficult to read, being written in the language of its time. Indeed, I chose not to read it at a pace to take in the intricacies of the language of each sentence, or ever clause and sub-clause, preferring to follow the thrust of her argument: that woman should be allowed to develop their minds and fulfil full roles in society if they are not to remain enslaved by a lack of education and societal expectations. To Wollstonecraft, woman (in late 18th Century Britain) were inferior not because of inherent differences between the sexes but because society made it so.

In places, the references are dated in such a way as would be considered inappropriate now, and there is the occasional word whose modern meaning is almost opposite to the way it used in the text, but it is worth persevering. That said, this was my second attempt at reading it!

Other feminist texts are available but in many ways this is the mother of them all.