Women's Rights During 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

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 American Revolution was the initial push for women wanting rights. In a letter to Mary Otis Warren, Abigail Adams discloses that she asked her husband to include women and to not put all the power into the hands of men(Doc B). The American Revolution also greatly changed the lives of women. If the republic were to succeed, women must be educated so they could teach their children moral and virtue. Although their status in society stayed private and almost the same, women had a larger role in day to day life because of the Republican Motherhood. Women were honored to take on these news domestic roles(Doc C). Because of the increase in women’s education, women were able to contribute to other important movements such as the

Since the Revolutionary War, women have been seen as inferior to men, a status that was especially clear in the lack of legal rights for women [1]. Women’s’ rights has been an issue that is still fought today with the struggles of being treated equally against men. In 1779, Judith Sargent Murray, was an essayist in support for women’s rights, once wrote that “women’s minds were as good as men’s and that girls as well as boys, therefore deserved access to education” [1]. Women were very domesticated by their husbands in this era which most men believed that a women’s only place was to maintain the household and taking care of children. The war gave some women the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to show responsibilities regarded as a

Carol Berkin clearly states her thesis in the introduction of Revolutionary Mothers. “Despite the absence of radical changes in gender ideology and gender roles for most women, the Revolution did lend legitimacy to new ideas about women’s capacities and their proper roles”. (Berkin 2005) In two thousand and fourteen it is questionable about how clearly women’s roles have changed especially in the areas of economics and politics at least it is obvious that the revolution did not bring equality.

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

Life for women changed slightly after the Revolution. Women were able to receive an education. Her education would include learning how to read and spell. Women were able to “oversee” her husband’s property with that education (Voices of Freedom Chapter 6 pages 116-119).

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

Throughout Revolutionary Mothers one is reminded of just how the war transformed the role of women transcending them through the limitations that had always defined them. From the first significant role women had in politics which was not in the colonial assemblies but was expressed with their power to say “no” which ensured the success of the boycotts that resulted from the American Revenue Act and the Stamp Act of

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

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

The Mouvement de Libération des Femmes was a woman’s group made in 1968, meaning ‘Woman’s Liberation Movement’. Françoise Picq, a woman with a doctorate in political science, was one of the first militants in the MLF in 1970. She disliked the version of society where women could only be wives, mothers, or daughters. The right to contraception was gained in 1967, and other demands that were not being addressed, such as the right to work, equality of wages, and end of a patriarchal based system, were instated later.