History _ The Role of Women in French Revolution
- 8 years ago
High School History (Grade 9)
History : The Role of Women in French Revolution
Women participated in virtually every aspect of the French Revolution, but their participation almost always proved controversial. Women's status in the family, society, and politics had long been a subject of polemics. In the eighteenth century, those who favored improving the status of women insisted primarily on women's right to an education (rather than on the right to vote, for instance, which few men enjoyed). The writers of the Enlightenment most often took a traditional stance on "the women question"; they viewed women as biologically and therefore socially different from men, destined to play domestic roles inside the family rather than public, political ones.
Before 1789 such ideas fell on deaf ears; the issue of women's rights, unlike the rights of Protestants, Jews, and blacks, did not lead to essay contests, official commissions, or Enlightenment-inspired clubs under the monarchy. In part, this lack of interest followed from the fact that women were not considered a persecuted group like Calvinists, Jews, or slaves. (0:10 - 6:47)
Olympe de Gouges :
In 1791 Olympe de Gouges championed the cause of women's rights in her manifesto, Declaration of the Rights of Woman, a document parallel in many ways to the Declaration of the Rights of Man. She argued that women were equal to men in all respects, that women should have all the same legal rights. Under the rule of the Jacobins she was accused of treason, and executed in the Reign of Terror.
Ironically, the French Revolution was such a setback to the rights of women in France that they did not achieve full citizenship and the right to vote until the end of World War II, long after the other western democracies. (6:47 - 10:45)
Click on the Link for online Video for History :
https://youtu.be/ycvgU3jbO4c
Video by Edupedia World (www.edupediaworld.com), Online Education,
All Right Reserved.
History : The Role of Women in French Revolution
Women participated in virtually every aspect of the French Revolution, but their participation almost always proved controversial. Women's status in the family, society, and politics had long been a subject of polemics. In the eighteenth century, those who favored improving the status of women insisted primarily on women's right to an education (rather than on the right to vote, for instance, which few men enjoyed). The writers of the Enlightenment most often took a traditional stance on "the women question"; they viewed women as biologically and therefore socially different from men, destined to play domestic roles inside the family rather than public, political ones.
Before 1789 such ideas fell on deaf ears; the issue of women's rights, unlike the rights of Protestants, Jews, and blacks, did not lead to essay contests, official commissions, or Enlightenment-inspired clubs under the monarchy. In part, this lack of interest followed from the fact that women were not considered a persecuted group like Calvinists, Jews, or slaves. (0:10 - 6:47)
Olympe de Gouges :
In 1791 Olympe de Gouges championed the cause of women's rights in her manifesto, Declaration of the Rights of Woman, a document parallel in many ways to the Declaration of the Rights of Man. She argued that women were equal to men in all respects, that women should have all the same legal rights. Under the rule of the Jacobins she was accused of treason, and executed in the Reign of Terror.
Ironically, the French Revolution was such a setback to the rights of women in France that they did not achieve full citizenship and the right to vote until the end of World War II, long after the other western democracies. (6:47 - 10:45)
Click on the Link for online Video for History :
https://youtu.be/ycvgU3jbO4c
Video by Edupedia World (www.edupediaworld.com), Online Education,
All Right Reserved.