Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie ( Wikipedia) Mary Wollstonecraft may be considered one of the pioneers of education for females, in a time when women and girls were little considered for scholarly improvement. Prior to her infamous publication, A Vindication of the Rights of Women , Wollstencraft authored The Female Reader , which was published under the name of her confidante, Mr. Cresswick, in order to be taken seriously as an instructive manual suitable for the endeavour. Today's reading is Wollestoncraft's preface to The Female Reader, which sets out her premise of why and how females in the eighteenth century should be educated. Reading time: 13 minutes. THE FEMALE READER OR MISCELLANEOUS PIECES IN PROSE AND VERSE; SELECTED FROM THE BEST WRITERS, AND DISPOSED UNDER PROPER HEADS, FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF YOUNG WOMEN; BY MR. CRESSWICK, TEACHER OF ELOCUTION. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A PREFACE, CONTAINING SOME HINTS ON FEMALE EDUCATION IT is univers...