Thoughts on the Education of Daughters is Mary Wollstonecraft’s early instructional treatise offering practical advice on how young women should be raised. Written before her major political works, the book argues that girls deserve a meaningful, rational education rather than the superficial accomplishments expected of them in 18th-century society.

Wollstonecraft discusses topics such as reading, moral development, self-discipline, modesty, friendship, and household management. She emphasizes forming strong character, cultivating reason, and preparing young women to be independent, thoughtful adults rather than ornamental figures focused on fashion, manners, or marriage alone. Though framed in the conventional moral language of her time, the book quietly challenges the restrictive roles assigned to women and anticipates the more radical arguments she would later develop in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

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