"Women are from their very infancy debarred those Advantages with the want of which they are afterwards reproached"

Mary Astell draws attention to the systemic barriers women face beginning in early childhood. She highlights a societal paradox: from their earliest days, women are denied the very opportunities and resources that would allow them to flourish on equal footing with men. These advantages, education, intellectual engagement, freedom of thought, and access to cultural or professional development, are withheld, not as a personal choice, but as a matter of social design, reinforcing the subordinate role women were expected to occupy.

Despite being excluded from these formative experiences, women are later criticized for the supposed shortcomings resulting from this deprivation. Rather than recognizing the limitations imposed upon women by their upbringing, society blames them for their lack of knowledge, wit, or accomplishment. This critique disregards the root cause of these perceived deficiencies: a deliberate system that restricts their growth and then faults them for the consequences.

Astell exposes this cycle of deprivation and blame as unjust. She insists that it is unreasonable to reproach women for not possessing qualities or achievements that are accessible only through the very advantages society has systematically denied them. By calling attention to this double standard, she urges readers to question the fairness of prevailing attitudes toward women and to reflect critically on the structures that perpetuate gender inequality.

Her critique also serves as an early argument for the importance of equal education and opportunity. If women were granted the same privileges as men from a young age, they would be equally capable of intellectual and moral development. By establishing this link between opportunity and accomplishment, Astell refutes the notion that women’s perceived inferiority is natural or inherent. Instead, she situates the problem squarely within the constructed realities of her society, laying the groundwork for ongoing arguments in favor of women's rights and educational reform.