In eighteenth-century Britain, women were largely excluded from public life, political participation and education, with social and cultural expectations confining them to the domestic sphere. They were dependent on male relatives and were considered unfit for academic training in a patriarchal society. Mary Wollstonecraft’sWollstonecraft, M. “A Vindication of the Rights of WomenA Vindication of the Rights of Women, by Wollstonecraft“challenges this marginalization, advocating for women’s education and broader social participation. She argues that their potential was stifled by systemic gender inequality and that their subordination was reinforced by a patriarchal society that systematically excluded women from intellectual, political, and academic pursuits. Smith’s discussion of the lack of universityUniversities education for women exclusively foregrounds usefulness, stressing the advantages of social training over academic education. Women’s contributions to the market were mostly ignored, with the notable exception of Adam Smith who acknowledges the exploitation of poor workers, in this context specifically highlighting the role of women, who laboured in domestic settings but received no social protection or recognition. The same goes for women from wealthier backgrounds, who were also excluded from public life, living lives focused on domesticity and marriage, and often depicted as mere consumersConsumers of luxuryLuxuries goods. Contemporaries of Smith like James SteuartSteuart, J. view women as largely irrelevant in the political sphere, focusing instead exclusively on the economic activities of men. While these ideas reflect the dominant patriarchal mindset of the time, they also highlight the systemic exclusion of women from broader social and economic roles. Only later did economists and society begin to recognize the economic and social contributions of women, both as producersProducers and consumersConsumers.