Fiercely independent and far from convention, Mary Wollstonecraft called for greater equality between the sexes; she lit the flame that would give birth to the feminist movement we know today. Wollstonecraft was one of the principal founders of feminist philosophy. A Vindication of Women's Rights (1792) stated that women should have greater access to education and not learn to depend on their beauty. “An activist committed to women's liberation cannot withdraw from her work, but only die from it. » (Dann, 1985) Mary Wollstonecraft understood this perfectly: “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but on themselves” (Wollstonecraft, 1995). Women were expected to be passive, Wollstonecraft believed that women should have the right to be independent. In the New Zealand feminist movement of the 1970s, women pushed for more than the right to vote won in 1893. “Yesterday's suffragettes; the puppets of today” (Dann, 1985). From equal pay to abortion to the creation of the women's refuge, New Zealand society was undergoing a full-fledged revolution. Wollstonecraft's initial call for change still resonated within the New Zealand feminist movement; “For years, women were enslaved, considered fit only for housekeeping and reproduction. It is time for women to take a stand for themselves” (Dann, 1985). Just as Wollstonecraft was vilified because of her unorthodox private life, "the New Zealand media responded to the new women's movement by focusing on the trivial, personal or sensational aspects, and left the real issues untouched" (Dann , 1985). In Wollstonecraft's time and in the feminist movement of the 1970s, it was easier for people to discredit the person or movement putting forward the ideas rather than challenge the...... middle of paper. ..... n: Allen & Unwin. Gordon, L. (2005). Rationale: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. Harper Perennial.Huhman, HR (June 6, 2012). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-and-the-gender-gap-where-are-the-women/ Miller, E. and Halberstadt, J. (2005). Media consumption, body image and thin ideals among New Zealand men and women. New Zealand Journal of Psychology Vol. 34, 189-195. Smith, D. (December 8, 2013). (D. Gibbs, interviewer) Smith, J. and Tetro, S. (May 28, 2011). Danielle Hayes: nice seat. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10728476 Todd, J. (1989). A Wollstonecraft Anthology. Polity Press/Basil Blackwell. Wollstonecraft, M. (1995). A justification of men's rights and a justification of women's rights (2 in 1). Cambridge University Press.