Women and the French Revolution

 

Despite the popularity of Enlightened thinkers whose ideas of equality helped spark the French Revolution, the rights of women did not improve during this time.  The male voters frowned upon women who took an interest in the politics of the revolution.

 

            A prominent figure who championed the rights of women was the enlightened thinker, Marquis de Condorcet.  Condorcet argued that women were just as capable as men were and if they could own property and pay taxes then they deserved the right to vote.  Unfortunately, Condorcet’s ideas were widely ignored on the subject.  Eventually, Condorcet would be killed during the Terror for his beliefs on this and other subjects that did not fit in with the Convention’s ideas.

 

            Women in France were very disappointed with the results of the National Assembly.  While the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which was modeled after the British Bill of Rights, it refused to accept the Declaration on the Rights of Women.  In fact, the National Assembly took steps to prevent women from meeting on political issues in the future.  Women tried to resist this action but were unsuccessful partially because many women agreed that it was not appropriate that they be involved in the politics of the revolution.

 

            During the Revolution women saw their political influence diminished greatly.  Under the Ancien Regime, some women had influence of their husbands in the royal court.  Working behind the scenes, women could have some impact on the political decisions of France.  However, the National Assembly was run by a group of middle-aged men who had no interest in the opinions of women.

 

Several factors limited the role of women in the politics of the French Revolution:

 

1.      Public opinion was against women’s involvement in politics.

2.      Many women were unwilling to take bold action to get involved in politics

3.      To be effective, women needed to be more literate and learn about economics and politics.  Unfortunately, there were few people willing to teach them these skills.

 

Despite the moves to make French society more equitable, this philosophy was really only extended to men.  Women in France during the Revolution saw the erosion of their political influence and began a long, hard road to gaining equality in this new social system.