Olympe De Gouges Rights Of Woman

For countless years after this document was presented, women were still lesser, and had to fight for basic rights that men had and worked hard to make their way to the top. This is a huge fault in The Declaration that government is restricted to a single gender.

Olympe de Gouges wrote this document. She was a butcher’s daughter who directly challenged women’s inferiority to men. This woman was charged with treason and then hanged on November 3, 1793 for fighting for women’s rights. The document states ten articles that give good examples of why women should have equal rights as men and should also be considered a citizen. The ten articles listed are Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 6, Article 7, Article 11, Article 13, Article 14, and Article 17. Some important articles are Article 1, which states how women are born free and their lives should matter just as much as a mans. It also says that you should only look at their common utility when it comes to social distinctions. Also, Article 6 stating that men and women are both equal in the eyes of the law and that both may be employed and hold high positions based on their virtues and talents.

In her book she challenges the government of France and their ideas that women should not be exposed to the same education as men. She gives warning that women will not forever be satisfied with only domestic concerns, and she demands justice for the female race.

The first source that will be evaluated is Marie Gouze also known as Olympe de Gouges’s, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and The Female Citizen written in 1791. The origin of this source is valuable because Marie Gouze was a self educated women

This issue of women’s rights was addressed and publicly acknowledged in 1848 in “The Declaration of Sentiments,” which was recorded in the Modern History Sourcebook, when it demands that, “…the right of women as right-bearing individuals be acknowledged and respected by society…” This declaration was shaped by following closely to the U.S. Declaration of Independence which informs us that all humans are born with equal

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

The “Declaration of the Rights of Women”, written by Olympe De Gouges, is a document that proves how in the 1790’ s women were trying to break-free from the belief that men have all the rights. This document was published in 1791 and it was made in comparison to the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” which was published in 1789. Olympe De Gouges wrote this document because she felt that despite having the French Revolution women were not receiving the rights they deserve. In the “Declaration of the Rights of Women” Olympe De Gouges often times mentions that women have the right to property, employment, and divorce. All of these principles relate to the Enlightenment idea because she is arguing for natural rights that many women back then were not given. De Gouges emphasizes that women deserve the right to have jobs and that they can equally fulfill the responsibilities that once belonged to a man. In the end of the “Declaration of the Rights of Women” De Gouges’ mentions a marriage contract which gives proof of Enlightenment thought because she argues that women should not have to stay married to their husbands if they don’ t respect them. Olympe De Gouges document, the “Declaration of the Rights of Women”, reflects the ideas of Enlightenment because throughout the document she often times mentions how women have every right to own property because it is a right that all “men” are given. She explains that women deserve to have employment and that by doing so they can go out

The ideals of the declaration were not satisfied because women did not have political rights or Civil Rights. Document one states “ Women, like enslaved people, had no right to hold legal title to property, and all of wife’s possessions belonged to her husband”. Women lived as a man's “slave”; not having the right to control what they were allowed to

The Declaration of Rights of Women was a speech in which the National Woman Suffrage Association declared their freedom on July 4th, 1876 because they have no voice or representation in government. Anthony, like Stanton spoke about the “many forms of flagrant discrimination” women faced politically tries to their argument around 1776. Anthony talks about “the broad principles of human rights proclaimed in 1776, not only as abstract truths but as the corner stones of the republic” that these rights aren’t only for half of the population, but these natural rights are given to everyone, regardless of gender. Lastly, Anthony believes that disregarding these rights will only set a bad precedent for the future of the republic, setting its own demise.

This aimed to be in the middle of communism and a laissez-faire government, towards capitalism. Blanc, a French political leader understood the desire for freedom, but interpreted it differently than laissez-faire. He stated human beings merely want a strong government; for every weak person to have the social forces to protect them. As a leader, he is bias in a way that he would rather have a strong government, rather than risking the society by withdrawing Industry. Roland, a French writer and political activist, also wanted her rights and wrote in document six, “Woman is entitled to work as is a Man.” She renounced the rights of a women, aiming for all human beings to understand that we are all equal and have the same rights, unlike when a woman was not able to own property during the Reform Bill of

Citizen and the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The former did not afford women any of the rights provided for men, such as liberty, property, resistance to oppression,

In “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” she stated that women were treated as if looks were the only thing important. Many women were not very educated and when beauty fades they are left uneducated and old. Women are not treated as well as men only thought of as objects of lust. They are treated as less than men because they are physically weaker than them. The fact that men are physically stronger than women is the only thing that is justified as true. Men and women did not really completely understand each other. Men thought of themselves as better than women and they did not want women who were educated. They did not think of them as wives or mothers but as just a woman not like the rest of them. She sees that man is her counterpart and respects them as part of the human race but with women being stripped of many of their rights that things are not equal

As I was examining the potential documents to research, Olympe de Gouges’ “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” was immediately striking to me. Personally, I was familiar with the original document: “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.” Therefore, I was interested in learning more about de Gouges’ version. Also, this particular document was striking because of the time period it was written in. The French Revolution is a fascinating period to study because of the implementation of Enlightenment ideals, and then the collapse of a lot of those ideas with the Jacobins and even later with Napoleon Bonaparte. I was interested in learning more about an influential woman of the French Revolution. Specifically, how her works and opinions

However, she focuses on the importance and value of education, believing that “the most perfect education…is such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart” (Wollstonecraft 134). Like her Enlightenment contemporaries, she believed that reason was a virtue since it empowered the mind to think freely and independently. Reason allowed one to truly express his or her ideas. The best way to cultivate such reasoning was to become educated. Thus, both men and women should be educated for the betterment of society as a whole since both sexes would then be able to contribute a broader range of ideas. However, the general consensus amongst her contemporaries in 18th century England was that women were “more artificial, weak characters…and, consequently, more useless members of society” (Wollstonecraft 134). Women were expected to lead domesticated lives and become dependent on men. They were considered as housewives, not expected to contribute to society or stand out in anyway. Therefore, women did not have the same amount of access to a proper education as men did since they were not expected to be involved with forming their own reasoning and opinions. As a result, women only learned what they perceived and experienced from the world, left to play “guess-work” rather than make observations and draw conclusions and speculations. Without critical thinking,

Throughout her manifesto, Wollstonecraft points out that if women were only taught to please men on a daily basis, men would grow tired causing the women to cheat. She also points out renowned writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Ten years before this, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had published his tell-all called Confessions. This was during the Romanticism period, a period where there was rejection of rationality and reason while in favor of feelings. There was more emphasis on subjectivity, the way the individual perceives their experience. From reading Vindication, you understand why Wollstonecraft wrote this. She claims that Rousseau’s view towards women were very double standard. He states that Women are smaller compared to men, both in their physical frame and mental frame. So because of that, they should all be submissive towards men. Thus, the prejudice of women being the weak and sensitive sex prevails. Both men and women, live their lives believing that women are weak minded. At an early age society teaches that a woman’s mind is weaker than a man’s mind, justifying it with the fact that a woman’s body is weaker than that of a man’s. This conclusion seems fully plausible, however if investigated further, one will find that that is not the case. A woman’s mind is as fully capable of reason as a man’s mind.