[2][3] Murray wrote the work in 1770 but did not release it until April 1790, when she published it in two parts in two separate issues of Massachusetts Magazine.
[9] It also included a liberal analysis of traditional male superiority in the Bible and criticism of the deprivation of female education of the time.
In the first part of the essay, which is prefaced by a poem she wrote, Murray argues against the idea that women are not mentally equal to men in all areas.
[12] This does not mean that women cannot or would not take care of activities such as cooking or sewing, but that this will give them the liberty to reflect upon their education and come up with positive ideas as opposed to negative ones.
She further comments that even if "animal strength proved any thing", that it is possible for women to have been given the ability to have superior minds to make up for this imbalance.
[14] She also points out several examples of biblical men that were imperfect, such as Job cursing against God, which she feels invalidates the idea of using the Bible to support male superiority.