Women in the French Revolution

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

     The revolution also changes the status of women in the 15 years following the American Revolution. There was a push to allow for better women’s education. In 1789, Massachusetts passed a law insisting elementary schools be open to both girls and boys. Girls from rich families had the ability to receive a good education on subjects including math, history and geography. A large advocate of women’s education was Judith Sargent Murray, who argued men and women had equal intellectual abilities, but women’s lack of chances is what made them appear inferior. Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, also called for legal reform in order to prevent male tyranny over women. Some even went further and called for the right of women to vote. This was still denied to women, however, and it would not be over 100 years later until they were granted this right. Despite some small advances for women’s rights, there was still a notion of inferiority to men.

Women are frequently overlooked when it comes to history in the 18th centuries. They were there in the flesh for all of the historical events, but they are rarely mentioned. Everyone has heard of the “Founding Fathers”, but students rarely hear about the “Founding Mothers” in their curriculum. Although women did not directly plan out our government, they still deserve to be given some credit for it. The roles that women played during the Revolutionary War greatly influenced the outcome of the war and the country that resulted from it.

Part A: Women participated in almost every aspect of the French Revolution. This investigation will answer the question, to what extent did women contribute to the French Revolution? This question is important because the choices of the women during this time still leads a major impact of history even today. The scope of this investigation was The French Revolution during a period of time between the years 1787 to 1799, and was known to be a very controversial time period in the history of France.

The American Revolution was a war between the 13 colonies and Great Britain. The colonies, trying to gain their freedom, revolted against their mother country, which resulted in a war. The war lasted from 1765 to 1783 and as a result, the colonies gained independence from Great Britain and became the United States of America. While white, male Americans participated in the American Revolution, women, African Americans, and foreigners were also involved. While women, African Americans, and foreigners participated in the American Revolution, their contributions and motivations varied.

Historians once presumed that, since women during the American Revolution had limited or no political decisions, and demonstrated little concern in achieving the franchise, they were fundamentally apolitical members of the society. In the modern world, scholars acknowledge the fact that women played a leading role during the war and they were actively involved in debates, which accompanied the movement towards independence, and that the war expanded their territories in their political and legal roles. Furthermore, the male welcomed women’s support during the war that was a very instrumental move towards the expansion of the women’s roles in the society unlike in the past when women were restricted to household chores. As women filled important roles because of the shortage of men to fill these roles, like managing business and farms, the idea that females were lesser than males started to fade away (Bielich, 2008). The laws prior to and during the revolution did not acknowledge females as equal to men in

As the saying goes, “a woman’s work is never done,” but today’s women live a far different life than their predecessors. The women of the revolution were courageous and brave-hearted. The obstacles of their time were far more difficult to overcome than those faced by women in this day and age. Whether it was slavery, war, or racial prejudice, these women kept their heads held high and worked to break down these barriers and create change for the future. On top of having to deal with these hardships, the women of the revolution had families to take care of, mouths to feed, houses to clean, and wounds to heal. For many women of the revolution it was all about taking a stand for their rights and being

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

Kreber notes that women played a number of key roles during the revolution including participating in various boycotts, enforcement of economic norms, nursing, or even the production of clothing for soldiers1. These positions were often needed but were not exulted because of the women filling these roles. This is what led Kreber to investigate the role of female patriotism in the revolution2. Kreber says that the revolution changed the minds of women in the Early Republic. She said that the Revolution argued for women's rights due to its claims of equality and freedom.3 Since women were actively allowed to participate in political and war-time activities, it created a spark for change in the woman's role. These activities gave women a new meaning to the word equality amongst their superior male counterparts. For the first time, women began to challenge the status quo of being confined to house life. Kreber describes the four major areas that women were effected by as a result of the revolution were womien education, derture, divorce, and reading4. These were the four biggest areas because women wanted to be like men. These were all areas men prided themselves in. Education was heavily constricted because of the belief of the woman's place in the home. Kreber says “even a contemporary women's magazine warned, learning in men was the road to preferment...consequently very opposite were the results of the same in women5.” Kreber saw the limitations on education as the

While reading, “Family and Feminism in the French Revolution” by Lindsay A.H. Parker, on the life of Rosalie Ducrollay Jullien, it was interesting to compare the views women had on their role in society during the french revolution, to the feminist ideologies of the 21st century. Before the french revolution, the effects of misogyny were evident. In the reading, we see how this patriarchal culture affects Jullien. The biggest shock coming from her own view of her being essentially less than her husband when it comes to intellectual ability. This is seen on page 43 when she writes to her friend in a letter how she wishes to reach her husband's “level of intellect, “but it is so high that [she] cannot.”” In the western world of the 21st century, this thought is highly frowned upon. Many women do not view themselves in the way Jullien did. The growth of feminism fought against this thought. Feminism helped fight for the view of equality between women and men. Now, with the rise of women partaking on jobs outside of the domestic world, their intellectual

Rosalie Ducrollay lived in France during the Revolution. She witness the downfall of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. According to the history archive in Paris, Rosalie wrote 1000 letters in her time. She married Marc Antione. During the French Revolution., women had made some gains in equality. Some historians mention that, women's role in pubic were retracted during the revolution. Women of the popular class, enjoyed a traditional role of speaking against corrupt monarch. Rosalie is the main character and lived in France. She lives in the country side. Her parents were merchants in a town close to Paris. (13 Lindsay A. Parker) She's a well-educated and outspoken person of the 18th century. Rosalie wrote her first letter in 1775, it would seem she sought to learn. Rosalie and her husband got married a year after the death of his 1st wife. There's no record of their marriage. Rosalie hid her marriage from family and friends. She had a son and named him Jules. It was unusual for them to hide their marriage, since they were Bourgeoisie (Wealthy Upper Class). They didn't feel the social pressure to marry quickly. Rosalie had a 2nd child, Bernard who died of smallpox at 16 months and later had a 3rd child Auguste. When Rosalie husband was away for business, she was in charge of the country estate, providing land to the farmers and taking care of families. It’s important to know that, Rosalie was very close to her husband’s family and oversee the business. Rosalie was

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

During the American Revolutionary Era, women played essential roles in the defiance against Great Britain by boycotting British products and joining the non-consumption organization. During the American Revolution, women served as nurses, cooks, maids, seamstresses, some even secretly enlisted in the Continental Army. From 1825 to 1850, women were fighting for equal opportunities as men and women’s right to vote, the Reform Period. Women’s roles were similar during the American Revolutionary Era and the Reform Movement because during both periods, women contributed to the movements, by joining political protest. Their roles differed during the periods because women during the reform movements, created conventions geared towards women, exacting

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.