Među teoretičarima razvoja demokracije tek rijetko primijetimo poneku ženu. Da utjecaj ženskog pitanja na demokratsku revoluciju uopće nije tako minoran, već prije suprotno, dokazuje rad Mary Wollstonecraft »Vindication of the Rights of Woman«. Mastnak se u svojim razmišljanjima o odnosu ženskog pitanja i demokratske revolucije oslanja upravo na tu knjigu i njezine interpretacije. Za razliku od drugih interpreta Wollstonecraftove, Mastnak smatra da artikulacija ženskog pitanja u demokratsku revoluciju unosi kvalitativne promjene. Zbog čega? Osnovni dokumenat demokratske revolucije »Declaration des droits de l\u27homme et du citoven« moguće je misliti kao univerzalan samo do postavljanja ženskog pitanja, kada posta jasno da deklaracija govori samo o muškim pravima.
Tako je rađanje ženskog pitanja razotkrilo da ženu u obiteljski zatvor nije gurnuo stari režim, već upravo inicijalna demokratska revolucija koja je, doduše, srušila monarhijsku vlast i hijerarhijsku društvenu piramidu, ali se nije dotakla obitelji. Muškarci su izglasali muška prava čovjeka, a ženama su oduzeli riječ i tako ih ostavili izvan javnog prostora. Zbog toga je artikuliranjem ženskog pitanja demokratska revolucija prestala postojati kao jednostavna negacija ancient regimea i morala se kroz samospoznaju suočiti sa vlastitim unutarnjim problemima i blokadama. Taj impuls za razmišljanje ni danas nije izgubio na svježini.Among the theoreticians dealing with the development of democracy a woman can seldom be found. However, that the influence of the women’s rights issue on the democratic revolution is by no means a minor one, but quite the contrary, demonstrates Mary Wollstonecraft’s essay »Vindication of the Rights of Woman«. In his considerations regarding the relation between the women’s rights issue and the democratic revolution, Mastnak relies upon this very book and its interpretations. In contrast to some other interpreters of Wollstonecraft, Mastnak claims that the articulation of the women’s rights issue introduces qualitative changes into the democratic revolution. Why is that? The principal document of the democratic revolution »Declaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen«, can be considered as universal only up to the point when the woman\u27s rights issue was established and when it became apparent that the declaration spoke only of the rights of men. Thus, the generation of the women\u27s rights issue revealed that women weren\u27t imprisoned within their families by the old regime, but that it was accomplished by none other than the original democratic revolution which, to be sure, overthrew the monarchistic rule and the hierarchical social pyramid not upsetting the family. Men voted for men’s human rights, and took away the vote from women, thus leaving them out of the public sphere. Consequently, after the articulation of the women\u27s rights issue, the democratic revolution ceased to exist as a simple negation of the ancien regime and through self-cognition had to face its own internal problems and blocades. Even today this impulse for reflection hasn\u27t yet lost its freshness
