The paper focuses on Wollstonecraft’s notion of ‘independence’, which she uses in at least two senses – as referring to socio-relational liberty and equality and as referring to rational freedom or self-governance. I tease out the links between these two senses and the distinction I have drawn between autonomy as self-determination and autonomy as self-governance. In discussing Wollstonecraft’s conception of independence as socio-relational liberty and equality I link it to both republican conceptions of freedom as non-domination (she was very much influenced by republican thought) and to Oshana’s work. In discussing her conception of rational freedom I situate her views in relation to contemporary discussions about competence and authenticity. I also argue that there is a third sense in which she understands ‘independence’ that resonates with contemporary discussions of what I have called ‘self-authorisation’.