The Rights of Women in the French Revolution

T h e R ig h ts o f W o m en mlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA in th e F ren ch R evo lu tio n L E O N O R A C O H E N R O S E N F I E L D The Enlighte nme nt ’s mounting but more or less sporadic defense of women in France1 was metamorphosed by the French Revolution into a program, improvised, ill-coordinated, but broad-ranging and visionary. This was the first and most complete political drive for women’s rights in any great modem nation. W ithin a few years it was all buried, and politically, women were worse off than ever before. The struggle for “feminism,” to use Fourier’s word, may be viewed as a revolutionary drama with a poignant denouement. Condorcet and the melodramatic Olympe de Gouges played the leads in a large, often nameless cast. In August 1788 France was in a ferment. Louis XVI, in order to levy new taxes in the financial crisis, had just convoked the StatesGeneral . For the first time in its history, the mass of the nation was entering public life. Peasants, artisans, and parish priests, along with the bourgeoisie and the privileged classes, were allowed to vote for repre­ sentatives. Lists of complaints and proposed reforms were being drawn up all over. Something electric seemed to sweep over the country. The 117 118 / WVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA L E O N O R A C O H E N R O S E N F I E L D Count d e Segur, coming back to France after a five-year absence at the court of Catherine the Great, noted the transformation: “There is something alive, proud, and animated about the bourgeois, the peas­ ants, even the women. A people that was bent under the yoke stands once more erect.”2 “Even the women.” Most women were denied the vote by the election regulations of January 24, 1789. Humbly, then boldly in pamphlets to the King or the States-General, then to the National Assembly, all classes of women protested, even the prostitutes. In 1788, the author of the T res-h u m b les R em ontrances, 3 an avowed monarchist, writes: In the midst of the general conversation being established between the Monarch and his people, it is impossible for the women o f this Kingdom to remain silent. W hen all bodies from the clergy down make public their respectful remonstrances... it would be shameful for women not to speak up... We are monarchists [pp. 3-4].... We formally request the Government to call up Deputies of our sex [p. 9].. .. Public opinion is formed within our coteries [p. 10]. In her D em a n d e des fem m es a u x E tats G e'neraux, Mme de Coicy reminds the States-General that women, publicly powerless in France, held official positions in the Middle Ages. Her conclusion is that “La gloire du Monarque n’est pas d’etre Roi de France, mais d’etre Roi des Fran§aises.”4 A R equete des fem m es p o u r leur adm ission a u x E ta ts-G en era u x5 in­ quires how women should be represented in the soon-to-be convoked States-General. If their sex were to constitute a Fourth Estate, that would be contrary to historical precedent and unconstitutional. The alternative would be to divide women by rank among the three exist­ ing Estates. The august Assembly “ought to know how interested women are in redressing all abuses” (p. 6). “... the end of their slavery has arrived, & it will no longer be said that of the twenty-four million inhabitants who inhabit France, more than half will not have the right to be represented in the States-General” (p. 8). W omen should be eligible to command armies and serve as ambassadors. Since the true wealth of a state is its population, the celibate should be taxed at double the ordinary rate. The reign of privilege is over. Tax the first R ig h ts o f W o m en in th e...