In The Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, or The Natural Daughter by Maria and Mary Robinson, women are subjected to many economic hardships, simply because they are women. Women are not given enough opportunities, like men, to earn a living. Even if she is a woman of good taste and morals, she can be treated as if she were a criminal and given no means to protect herself. For a woman to be supported, she must marry into slavery, dishonor herself through unpleasant work, or be fortunate enough to receive a proper education and receive the right references. In The Natural Daughter and the Wrongs of Woman, it is the social norm for women to be protected through marriage. However, in both novels it is depicted that marriage is an oppressive state. I hate the thought of forced subordination! (Robinson 130). Martha, an intelligent and free-thinking woman, will not just follow her husband's orders but will do so blindly. This noncompliance marks her as a woman who goes against a woman's duty to satisfy her husband's every whim. Maria is also inclined to view her marriage as a negative thing. She regrets the effort and laments that, "in my haste to escape from a temporary addiction and expand my newborn wings, in an unknown sky, I have been caught in a trap and kept in a cage all my life" ( Wollstonecraft 233). Martha's parents' marriage shows how cruel a man can be to his wife regarding her opinion. When confronted by his wife, he responds, "[y]ou never deal with the word" (Robinson). Through these efforts, she is further treated poorly because she is a woman. Martha is treated as little more than a beggar. The housekeeper patronizes her by suggesting that "my lady is very good-natured; for she knows that people come with their books like a kind of kind beggar, and generally pays them handsomely for their trouble" (Robinson 230) not she is taken seriously and offered money for her suffering instead of her artistic ability. Even when a publisher accepts Martha's work, she is given a small sum and sent on her journey Martha later discovers that the publisher has made sufficient profit from her novel, which no one has seen