Rediscovering Wollstonecraft - the mother of Feminism

Bee Rowlatt, writer, journalist and broadcaster by profession read out the first page from her book In Search Of Mary to the audience at the British Council on Friday. She explained the important role of Wollstonecraft as a woman writer and philosopher, back in the late 1700s. In an exclusive interview with Millennium Post, Bee shared her views on Mary Wollstonecraft. 

Mary Wollstonecraft had been an inspiration throughout most of my life. She featured in each part of my life. In my 30s, I discovered that she travelled with a baby in 1795 around Norway, Sweden and Scandinavia on a treasure hunt, and she wrote a book! Trapped in the modern conundrum of motherhood versus career I wondered how did she do it? And then I thought ‘I want to do it’! Wollstonecraft was condemned to obscurity and her reputation was trashed after her death, since as a woman she had spoken of women rights which got her a lot of enemies. Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is the most sensational book by her. The book itself has been the inspiration for In Search Of Mary! 

I luckily was able to write travel pieces to have that financial independence during my journey as Norway is really expensive. But people in Norway were really good, they were quite kind to me when I was travelling with my child. Wollstonecraft herself was the first woman to achieve financial independence through her writings.

I didn’t really do everything she did. Her life began in misery, and then it was worse. Her death was followed by a worse situation when her husband William Godwin wrote a biography on Mary which let out her story and unleashed a hurricane in the society. That lasted for a century, this injustice really urged me to write the book. She attempted suicide twice. Sometimes I am at a complete loss when I think about her life. The best I could do was to reflect on it. Later, I thought how fortunate I am!

Justice Leila Seth....she is amazing. She is the living embodiment of Wollstonecraft and represents usefulness, reason and justice.

“I do not wish women to have power over men but over themselves”, she quoted Mary Wollstonecraft. I can’t improve on it. During my journey I felt like I was trying to get power over myself. I think every woman should aspire to that. Feminism is not about hating anybody or upsetting anybody, it is about women having power over themselves.