French Revolution Women's Rights

Women’s right has been a problem throughout the nineteen century. Women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were women's most significant professions, in the 19th century; however, women won the right to vote and increased their educational and job opportunities. Women were long considered naturally weaker than men. Prior to the American Revolution the women were viewed as weak and unable to perform hard work. Also, women place were the house, take care their children, clean the house, organized the house, cook, and take care animals. During the American Revolution many women faced a lot problems because they

Linda Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America was a refreshing historian analysis of the role of women in our nation’s history. In the early Revolution eras, the political role of women was nonexistent due to the traditional roles held by the patriarchal society the colonists lived in for most of their years. Kerber intertwined her book with an intelligent analysis, but also conveys this analysis in a clear way so that reader can comprehend further. Throughout the book, chapters divide each segment of women’s rights by explaining the slow, but progressive build of them. The exploration of womens rights in Women of the Republic is developed by each opportunity opened during the American Revolution.

The Enlightenment is known as the revolution that brought to question the traditional political and social structures. This included the question of the woman’s traditional roles in society. As the public sphere relied more and more ?? and the advances in scientific and educated thinking, women sought to join in with the ranks of their male counterparts. Women held gatherings known as salons where they organized intellectual conversations with their distinguished male guests. Seeking to further their status, enlightened women published pamphlets and other works advocating for educational rights and political recognition. Even with this evolution of woman in society, many still clung to the belief that the role of the woman was solely

In the 1800’s, society held women back from doing certain activities, having certain jobs and having the same rights as men. “While there were often not specific legal restrictions circumscribing the activities of women, the social restrictions were quite pervasive.” “Social norms, then, prevented women from many activities, even though there were no overt laws stating a women could not be a doctor, for example.” The women’s suffrage movement connects to the Enlightenment era because many of the philosophers talked about men creating

Prior to the revolution, women were expected to care for the children, serve their husbands and had domestic roles. During the time period of 1775 to 1800, women had a role in the revolution. Document A expresses the idea that not only all men, but all women were expected to take part in this revolution. The woman is shown as a patriot, which gives the idea that during that time, women were equal to men at the time of the revolution because it required help from both women and men. While the Americans decided to boycott all British goods, women had to provide the products that were previously given to them by Britain. While their husbands were at battle during the revolution, women had to take care of the farms and businesses, as well caring for the children. By nature, women were nurturing and caring for the family and taking care of homelife. How women viewed their responsibilities changed, especially in the late 1790s. Document J shows how women believed that they had rights and freedoms. They believed that if they had the ability to read and write and were permitted education, that they should also be granted the freedom of speech. During this time women wanted the opportunity to speak up and not be subjected to only caring for the family. This freedom granted women with greater roles which they did not have prior to the

The revolution of women rights politicized millions of French men by transforming their statues from subjects to citizens, but revolutionaries of all political stripes displayed an extreme reluctance to incorporate women into the political body. She also wrote Pamphlets and plays that described a variety of issues, like slavery and in which she attacked as being founded on greed and blinded of the biases that surrounded her. In one of her most famous pamphlets, she describes the declaration of the women’s rights to the parallel of the one for men thus, criticizes the deputies for haven forgotten women. She also pointed out the pamphlet to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, though she also warned the Queen that she has to work with the Revolution or risk destroying the monarchy. In the postscript, she denounced the customary treatment of women as objects are easily abandoned and in which women should be treated equally because they are both people. Gouges appended to the declaration as a sample of a form of the marriage contract that called for communal sharing of

However, ‘theory’ is the key word here, as this was not true in practice. As Johnson highlights, there were no legal provisions at any point during the French Revolution to guarantee these rights. Although the estates system was abolished, the class system remained, and there continued to be huge wealth disparity in France. As the October Days in the same year highlighted, urban workers continued to struggle to afford bread. The Declaration only guaranteed equality of rights. Although this is significant, the Declaration was by no means so revolutionary that it eliminated inequality and oppression in France. This is arguably best exemplified by examining women’s rights. The Declaration makes little progress in gender equality. Men

The American Revolution played a significant role in lives of nearly every person in America. Most men left their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters in charge of farms and businesses when they left to fight in the Patriot armies. There were many men, who had no farms or businesses, left their women with absolutely nothing to fall back on. This led to a significant increase in the population of impoverished women in several cities and towns. Due to the ongoing war, there were many price increases that these women simply could not afford. Some would riot and loot for food, while others would lead popular protests. “In New Jersey and Staten Island, women launched

Also, it often included spontaneous rioting and craziness which included many women in the popular insurrections. In 1791, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” echoed many of the ideals of the Enlightenment. This progressive document helped further the rights for many and pushed forward the agenda of equal rights; however, many women, including de Gouges, saw this document as portraying the failure of the French Revolution. The next phase, the Republican Revolution, clamped down and cut many of the progressive laws and ideas that were characterized by the Liberal Revolution. Women were banned from the political sphere; many who spoke out against those in charge were executed for their opposition. Included in those who were executed were Olympe de Gouges in 1793. Therefore, the rest of the French Revolution is not necessary to understand her as a historical figure.

Women have been the most discriminated-against group of people in the entire history of humankind. They have been abused, held back in society, and oftentimes restricted to the home life, leading dull, meaningless lives while men make sure the world goes round. It seems strange that half of the world's population could be held down so long; ever since the dawn of humanity, women have been treated like second-class citizens. Only in the past 100 years or so have women started to win an equal place in society in the Western world. However, the fight for equality has not been a short one. The seeds of the liberation movement were planted hundreds of years ago, by free-thinking

Another group of activists whom Historians have examined are the militant women of the Revolution. In their article “Women and Militant Citizenship in Paris,” Darline Gay Levy and Harriet B. Applewhite examine the participation of women in political life during the Revolution, arguing that this participation laid the foundation for women’s claims to active citizenship. They focus their argument on three specific instances of women’s practice of militant citizenship in revolutionary Paris: “the women’s march to Versailles in October 1789; women’s participation in armed processions and their demands for the right to bear arms during the spring and summer of 1792; and the organized insurgency of women in the Society of Revolutionary Republican

The French Revolution brought with it many sweeping changes in the realm of human rights both to France and eventually the rest of the world. Through Enlightenment ideas, groups previously viewed as second-class citizens, and even those viewed as hardly human, gained greatly enhanced rights and even citizenship with all that this entailed. Amazingly with all the rights and privileges that were being recognized as inherent to various social groups, half the population was left with little or no improvement in their station. This, of course, refers to women. While there were those who fought for women's rights, such as Condorcet, Etta Palm D'Aelders, and Olympe De Gouges; these

Throughout much of history, women’s roles of being dutiful and respectful, quiet ladies guided them into a state of oppression and vulnerability. It was not until the Enlightenment that women began to exceed in different areas, finally beginning to be taken seriously as well as getting recognition for movements that they have been a part of. Up until then, the major role of women was to produce sons that would rise up and take financial care of a household, or daughters that would lead quiet and bashful lives once again repeating what the mother had once learned when she young. However, the fundamental roles of women during the French Revolution varied. There were many women who did not share common experiences and depending on their social class, these women’s involvements in different areas of the Revolution varied significantly.

Equality in government is something that is extremely important and relevant in today’s society, which is why I chose to focus on equal rights in the French Revolution for my research paper. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines equality as “the quality or state of being equal”, I am going to apply this term to government and explain why being equal in government is the best way to avoid conflict, maintain peace, and keep order. I want to focus on equality because it is a topic that is dear to my heart for many reasons and I firmly believe that the lack of equal rights is what fueled the French Revolution and led to the violence and chaos that occured. Due to the Monarchy that the French had at the time, citizens were under a feudal class system that kept their people from being equal in government. This division between classes is just one of the things that aided the violence that occurred during the French Revolution simply because people were not equal. When people are not heard, or feel their opinion is irrelevant, they begin to cause an uproar; for example, King Louis XVI made decisions that affected everyone, but only thought of himself, and didn’t want to hear what his citizens had to say. All the power lied in his hands and that was the problem. No one was represented in government and no power was distributed amongst the people; therefore, people felt they were walked on and that their life was not as important. This is just one example of how inequality led to

The French Revolution was a time of cast conflict that dramatically altered the political and social order of France. Women during the revolution period had many roles including they're political involvement, donation of time to revolutionaries, and contributions to ideologies. However, with all the contributions, women were still victimized by the changes that occurred. While these roles had a huge impact on the equality between mean and women this impact did not last. Individuals such as Olympe de Gouges and Marie-Jean Roland inspired women to become involved in the revolution because of their significant political achievements that are still discussed today. Without the service and intelligence women