Role of Women in the French Revolution

The role of women in the French Revolution is explored in this meta-narrative, which highlights the significant but often overlooked contributions of women during this transformative period. From women’s influential role in popular movements to their active participation in political and social upheavals, this account provides a glimpse into how women challenged traditional gender roles and advocated for their rights. Highlighting iconic figures such as Olympe de Goes and the demands presented at the Women’s March on Versailles illustrates how women played an important role in shaping the revolutionary narrative despite challenges and limitations. This meta-narrative captures the dynamic and multifaceted contributions of women that shaped the course of the French Revolution and laid the groundwork for future struggles for gender equality.

Role of Women in the French Revolution

Historical Facts	Role of Women in the French Revolution
Political Activism	Actively participated in political movements and clubs.
March to Versailles	Played a crucial role in the 1789 March to Versailles.
Women’s Clubs	Established their political clubs for advocacy.
Feminist Publications	Contributed to publications addressing women’s rights.
Civil Rights Demands	Advocated for civil rights and equal representation.
War Effort	Contributed on the homefront and battlefield during the war.
Abolition of Monarchy	Supported the abolition of the monarchy for a more egalitarian rule.
Women’s March on Paris	Organized protests, such as the 1795 Women’s March on Paris.

Introduction

Since the late 20th century, historians have debated how women participated in the French Revolution and what impact it had on French women. Women had no political rights in pre-revolutionary France; they were considered “passive” citizens, forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them. This changed dramatically in theory, as feminism seemed to have made great strides. Feminism emerged in Paris as part of a broad demand for social and political reform. These women demanded equality for men and then moved on to demand an end to male domination. Their main means of agitation were pamphlets and women’s clubs, especially the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women. However, the Jacobin element in power abolished all women’s associations in October 1793 and arrested their leaders. The movement was crushed. Devance explains her decision by emphasizing wartime masculinity, Marie Antoinette’s bad reputation for female interference in state affairs, and traditional male supremacy. Ten years later, the Napoleonic Code confirmed and preserved the secondary status of women.

Traditional Roles of French Women

(1) Women in pre-revolutionary France could not vote or hold any political office. They were considered “passive” citizens, forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them in government. It was men who defined these categories, and women were forced to accept male dominance in the political sphere. Single and married women had the same lack of rights. They had rights in civil and criminal courts, which allowed their testimony to be heard. In some cases, women were allowed to be part of contractual relationships but were not allowed to be part of notarized acts such as wills. For most women, all their rights were under the authority of their father until marriage, after which the authority was transferred to the husband. Married women had no rights over themselves or property. Only in the event of the death of the husband could women own property. Law and tradition restricted women to strenuous, labor-intensive work that provided earnings well below that of men and did not allow the right to improve their status or become masters of their craft. Women had some political rights, including women in religious orders, nobles, and some women of the third estate, including widows. Their involvement in political affairs was about being able to send representatives to attend primary assemblies.

(2) Women were taught to be devoted to their husbands and “to all his interests, attentions, and cares…sincere and discreet zeal for his salvation.” A woman’s education often consisted of learning to be a good wife and mother; therefore, women should not be involved in the political sphere, as the limit of their influence was the education of future citizens. The subordinate role of women before the Revolution was perhaps best illustrated by the Frederician Code, issued in 1761 and challenged by Enlightenment philosophers and publications. The highly influential Encyclopédie set the tone for the Enlightenment in the 1750s, and its ideas influenced the subsequent revolution in France. Louis de Jaucourt, who wrote several articles on women in society, criticized the traditional roles of women, arguing that “it would be difficult to prove that the rule of the husband comes from nature, since this principle is contrary to natural human equality… man does not always have greater strength of body, wisdom, mind, or conduct than woman… The example of England and Russia clearly shows that women can succeed equally in moderate and despotic government…” One of the greatest influences foreshadowing revolutionary and republican changes in women’s roles was the educational tract Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile (1762). Some liberal men advocated equal rights for women, including women’s suffrage. Nicolas de Condorcet was particularly noted for his advocacy in his articles published in the Journal de la Société de 1789 and the publication of De l’admission des femmes au droit de cité (“For the Admission of Citizenship Rights for Women”) Archived 2006-06-16 at the Wayback Machine in 1790.

The Revolutionary Role of French Women

When the Revolution began, some women struck hard, taking advantage of the volatile political climate to assert their active nature. During the revolution, it was impossible to keep women out of the political sphere. They took oaths of loyalty, “a solemn declaration of patriotic allegiance [and] an affirmation of the political responsibility of citizenship”. De Corday d’Armont is a prime example of such a woman: she sympathized with the revolutionary political faction of the Girondists and assassinated the Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat. During the Revolution, other women such as Pauline Léon and her Society of Revolutionary Republican Women supported the radical Jacobins, holding demonstrations in the National Assembly and participating in riots, often using armed force.

Contrasting progress for women

(1)  Women gained a number of rights in the early years of the Revolution, between 1789 and 1793. Revolutionary legislators granted them proper civil status: civil rights and their own legal identity. To summarize, women were no longer minors under the law. From August 1790, the family courts became the only authorized institution to settle family disputes and conflicts, which indicated a development. A husband could no longer imprison his wife, or even his children, of his own free will. What’s more, marriage law profoundly changed the relationship between men and women. By introducing civil marriage as a legitimate civil contract in the face of religious marriage, the revolutionaries broke with the tradition of marriage as an institution that could not be dissolved. Divorce, even by mutual agreement, was therefore allowed.

(2) In addition, the National Assembly declared equality between wives and husbands in married life and in separation. Their goal was to provide women with civil protection and encourage remarriage and birth rates by facilitating divorce. After the law of marriage, the law of inheritance greatly improved the status of women. In April 1791, the Diet introduced an egalitarian inheritance system for both boys and girls. All these laws gave rise to a household whose property was managed by both spouses. The revolution, which far from contributing to the deterioration of the position of women, on the contrary helped to improve their position in the years 1789-1793. Although it was far from a time of full emancipation, it was nevertheless the only time when women gained civil rights that were quickly curtailed by subsequent regimes.

(3) Reflecting this civil progress, however, no political right was granted to women. Even worse, the revolutionaries soon showed a willingness to ban women from politics and limit the body politic to men only. They were indeed denied citizenship, rather full political citizenship. Despite the demands expressed by “sans-culotte” women, they were in fact denied the right to bear arms, join the National Guard, and were denied the right to vote. While female activists such as Olympe de Gouges and Théroigne de Méricourt demanded citizenship, legislators clung to their political rights, confirming the primacy of an all-male body politic. In short, the revolutionary model was an autonomous civil existence for women, but completely devoid of any political rights, making them stateless citizens.

From commitment to descent from the public space

(1) Lack of recognition, however, did not prevent some women from occupying the public space. Indeed, they were central to several major revolutionary events. In October 1789 they marched to Versailles to beg for bread and to demand arms and ammunition from the King and Diet. After their march, the king was taken back to Paris. This was a decisive step: Women had just achieved a sensational appearance and a spectacular explosion on the political stage, which in fact gave the revolution a new direction.

(2) In addition, women’s political movements were gradually organized: fifty-six women’s clubs were formed in Paris and throughout the country between 1789 and 1793. At the same time, women increasingly participated in popular political clubs, where they were not ashamed to speak up and participate. in discussions. It was difficult for women to speak up because they were often accused of hysterical behavior and of “disrupting the smooth flow of the session”. Despite everything, their speech became more political and clubs and societies gave them the opportunity to be heard.

(3) Since they participated in political clubs, popular societies and actively participated in major revolutionary events, women activists quickly became close to the most radical revolutionaries and demanded extensive social reforms. Activists like Pauline Léon or Claire Lacombe remain known for their engagement. In 1793 they founded the Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women (Societe des republicans révolutionnaires), with only female membership, which presented a large number of economic and political demands (the right to vote, to bear arms).

(4) The year 1793 was a turning point. It was both a time when women’s movements were at their peak, having achieved their organization and full assertion, and a time when they were gradually excluded from the public space. It was partly the result of a male chauvinist view of society, but the exclusion of women was actually a very complex problem: it was part of the National Assembly’s struggle against the “sans-culottes” and the most radical republicans, who were seen as potentially dangerous competitors. . Women’s movements that were closely associated with the most radical revolutionaries, women activists were considered the weakest element of the radical movement due to the widely shared sexist prejudices shared by their male allies. They were therefore the first to be targeted before their male counterparts were attacked a few months later. In the fall of 1793, the Convention decided to dissolve all associations and women’s associations.

(5) The process of removing women from public space was initiated. Activists tried to resist, but political repression gradually defeated them. Evidence, among other things, of this exclusion was the gradual elimination of citizens by successive governments to favor the use of Madam or Miss: the latter referred to the marital status of women, while the former was too political. The process was accompanied by a significant obstacle in the field of women’s rights, especially during the restoration. In the 1830s, however, there were renewed demands by women, especially for political rights and full citizenship.

The diversity of women’s expressions and needs

(1) The activists who put forward the central actions and demands, however, did not represent the complexity of the general condition of women. They were actually a minority. Most women, especially from the folk background, did not focus so much on political issues, their primary demands were related to their livelihood. In fact, throughout the revolutionary decade, the poor supply of food in the markets, especially in Paris, was a major problem for the authorities and a cause of constant concern for women. Women who were responsible for supporting their families often expressed their dissatisfaction, sometimes violently. Historical sources point to endless queues at bakers or butchers. This is why they often participated in violent hunger protests due to fears of food shortages.

(2) Finally, not all women who became involved in politics were revolutionaries. We should not undermine the important role of women in the counter-revolutionary movement and more generally in all movements that opposed the revolution. Women were in the Vendée, among the Chouans, or in all the areas where revolutionary dynamism was being fought for. They were difficult to identify and were mostly proven, but imperfectly, through forensic sources describing the manner in which they were suppressed.

(3) Finally, the status of women was even more complex in turbulent times when political standards changed and when the traditional social structures of the Ancien Régime collapsed. The revolution opened political space to social groups that had previously been excluded from the political sphere. Far from being passive, women rose to the occasion and played a significant role, as shown by female activists such as Olympe de Gouges. Although they were a minority, they had a decisive influence on later feminist movements.

From Salons to Streets

Whenever a revolution began, a few ladies hit hard, taking advantage of the unpredictable political environment to assert their dynamic qualities. In the hour of revolution, ladies could not be kept out of the political circle. They swore oaths of allegiance, “solemn declarations of devoted loyalty, affirmations of the political obligations of citizenship. De Corday d’Armont is the perfect representation of such a lady: considerate of the progressive Girondist political group, she killed the Jacobin chief Jean-Paul Marat. Throughout the Revolution, various ladies, such as Pauline Léon and her Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, supported the extreme Jacobins, organized demonstrations in the National Assembly and participated in mobs, often using equipped power. Women’s participation was not limited to riots and demonstrations, but women began to attend political clubs and soon both men and women were agitating for women’s rights. In July 1790, the leading intellectual and aristocrat Marie-Jean Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet, published a newspaper article in support of full political rights for women.

Feminist Agitation

(1) The Women’s March on Versailles is just one example of feminist militant activism during the French Revolution. Activists such as Pauline Léon and Théroigne de Méricourt campaigned for full citizenship for women, although they largely left out efforts to increase citizens’ rights, as the issue was left undefined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. However, women were “denied political rights of “active citizenship” (1791) and democratic citizenship (1793). On 6 March 1792, Pauline Leon presented to the National Assembly a petition signed by 319 women asking for permission to create a garde national to defend Paris in the event of a military invasion. Leon asked that the women be given permission to arm themselves with pikes, pistols, sabers and rifles, as well as the privilege of drilling under the French guards. Her request was denied. Later in 1792, Théroigne de Méricourt called for the creation of “legions of Amazons” to protect the revolution. As part of her challenge, she argued that the right to bear arms would turn women into citizens.

(2) On June 20, 1792, many armed women took part in a procession that “passed through the halls of the Legislative Assembly, to the Tuileries Gardens, and then through the royal residence.” Militant women also took a special role at Marat’s funeral after his assassination on 13 July 1793. As part of the funeral procession, they carried the tub in which Marat was murdered and a shirt stained with Marat’s blood. The most radical militant feminist activism was carried out by the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, founded by Léon and her colleague Claire Lacombe on May 10, 1793. The club’s aim was “to consider means of thwarting the projects of the enemies of the Republic.” Up to 180 women attended the Society’s meetings. Of special interest to the Society was “the fight against hoarding [of grain and other staples] and inflation.” On May 20, 1793, women were at the forefront of a crowd demanding “bread and the Constitution of 1793.” When their cries went unheeded, the women went on a rampage, “throwing down shops, they seized grain and kidnapped officials”.

(3) The Society called for a law in 1793 to compel all women to wear tricolor cockade badges to show their loyalty to the Republic. They also reiterated their demands for strong price controls so that bread – the staple food of the poor – does not become too expensive. After the Convention passed the Cockade Act in September 1793, revolutionary Republican women demanded vigorous enforcement. Yet they were faced by market women, former servants and religious women who adamantly opposed price regulation (which would drive them out of business) and resented attacks on aristocracy and religion. They said “only whores and Jacobins wear cockades.” Fist fights broke out in the streets between two factions of women.

(4) Meanwhile, the men who controlled the Jacobins dismissed the revolutionary republican women as dangerous bullies. At this point the government was controlled by the Jacobins; dissolved the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women and ordered that all women’s clubs and associations be illegal. They sternly reminded women to stay at home and take care of their families by leaving public affairs to men. Organized women were permanently excluded from the French Revolution after October 30, 1793. Women’s breasts were considered a natural sign that women were to be denied citizenship and political power; women were to be relegated to the domestic sphere and motherhood. Most of these outwardly activist women were punished for their militancy. The type of punishment adopted during the revolution included public condemnation, arrest, execution or exile. Court Theroigne de Meri was arrested, publicly flogged, and then spent the rest of his life condemned to an asylum. Pauline Leon and Claire Lacombe were arrested, later released, and continued to receive ridicule and abuse for their activism. Many women of the revolution were even publicly executed for “conspiracy against the unity and indivisibility of the republic”.

Women Writers

(1) While some women choose a militant and often violent path, others choose to influence events through writing, publications and meetings. Olympe de Gouges wrote a number of plays, short stories and novels. Her publications emphasized that women and men are different, but that should not prevent them from being equal under the law. In her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, she insisted that women deserved rights, especially in areas that directly affected them, such as divorce and the recognition of illegitimate children.

(2) De Gouges also expressed non-gender political views; even before the start of the terror, Olympe de Gouges addressed Robespierre with the pseudonym “Polymer” and called him “the disgrace and disgrace of the revolution”. She warned against revolutionary constructionist extremism and said leaders were “preparing new bonds if [the freedom of the French people] falters”. De Gouges declared that she was willing to sacrifice jumping the Seine if Robespierre would join her, and made a desperate attempt to attract the attention of the French citizenry and warn them of the dangers that Robespierre embodied. Olympe de Gouges was one of the few public voices to protest the human slave trade and the only woman to openly criticize the government’s suspension of the democratic constitution of 1793. In addition to these courageous writings, her defense of the king was one of the factors leading to her execution. An influential figure, one of her proposals early in the Revolution, to have a voluntary, patriotic tax, was adopted by the National Assembly in 1789.

(3) Madame Roland (aka Manon or Marie Roland) was another prominent female activist. Her political focus was not specifically on women or their liberation. She focused on other aspects of government, but was a feminist based on the fact that she was a woman who worked to influence the world. Her personal letters to the leaders of the revolution influenced politics; in addition, she often hosted political gatherings of the Brissotins, a political group that allowed women to join.

(4) Madame Roland, who was limited by her gender, decided to spread the revolutionary ideology and disseminate information about the events as well as help formulate the policies of her political allies. Unable to directly write policies or transmit them to the government, Roland influenced her political allies and pushed her political agenda. Roland attributed women’s lack of education to the public opinion that women were too weak or vain to engage in serious matters of politics. She believed that it was this inferior education that made them foolish people, but women “could easily concentrate and fix on subjects of great importance” if given the chance.

(5) As she was led to the scaffold, Madame Roland cried out “O liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name!” Witnesses to her life and death, editors, and readers helped complete her writings, and several editions were published posthumously. Although she did not focus on gender politics in her writings, by taking an active role during the tumultuous time of the Revolution, Roland stood up for the women of the time and proved that they could take an intelligent and active role in politics. Although women did not gain the right to vote because of the revolution, they still greatly expanded their political participation and involvement in government. They set a precedent for generations of feminists to come. A leading example of enduring female influence from the period was Madame de Staël (1766-1817), who witnessed, participated in, and commented on tumultuous events.

Counter-Revolutionary Women

(1) A major aspect of the French Revolution was the dechristianization movement, with which many common people disagreed. Especially for women living in rural areas of France, the demise of the Catholic Church meant a loss of normality. For example, the ringing of church bells that resonated through the city called people to confession and symbolized the unity of the community. With the onset of the dechristianization campaign, the republic silenced these bells and at the same time tried to silence the religious fervor of the majority Catholic population.

(2) When these revolutionary changes were made in the Church, it spawned a counter-revolutionary movement, especially among women. Although some of these women embraced the political and social changes of the Revolution, they opposed the dissolution of the Catholic Church and the creation of revolutionary cults, such as the Cult of the Supreme Being advocated by Robespierre. As Olwen Hufton argues, these women came to see themselves as “defenders of the faith”. They took it upon themselves to protect the church from what they saw as a heretical change to their faith pushed by the revolutionaries.

(3) Counter-revolutionary women resisted what they saw as state interference in their lives.[36] Economically, many peasant women refused to sell their goods for assignats, as this form of currency was unstable and was supported by the sale of confiscated church property. By far the most important issue for counter-revolutionary women was the passage and enforcement of a civil constitution for the clergy in 1790. In response to this measure, women in many areas began distributing anti-oath pamphlets and refusing to attend masses conducted by priests who had sworn allegiance to the Republic. This reduced the social and political influence of the jurors, as they presided over smaller gatherings and counter-revolutionary women did not seek them out for baptisms, marriages or confessions. Instead, they secretly hid non-judgmental priests and attended secret traditional masses.[38] These women continued to adhere to traditional practices such as Christian burials and naming their children after saints, despite revolutionary decrees to the contrary.

(4) It was this determined opposition to the civil constitution of the clergy and the dechristianization campaigns that played a major role in the rediscovery of the Catholic Church as a prominent social institution. Olwen Hufton notes about counter-revolutionary women: “it is her devotion to her religion that determines the re-emergence of the Catholic Church in the post-Thermidorian period…”. Although these women struggled, they were ultimately vindicated in their quest to re-establish the Church and thereby restore traditional family life and social stability. This was seen in the Concordat of 1801, which formally restored the Catholic Church in France. This act came after years of attempts to de-Christianize or state-controlled religion, which were foiled in part due to the opposition of religiously devoted counter-revolutionary women.

Life of a Revolutionary Woman – Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)

The boldest and strongest statement for women’s political rights comes from Marie Gouges, who wrote under the name Olympe de Gouges. Olympe bitterly attacked slavery and issued a “Declaration of the Rights of Woman” in September 1791, modeled on the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”. She showed how women were excluded from his vows. Although she failed to gain widespread support, it made her “notorious”. In the end, she had to undergo execution at the hands of the government, and in 1793 she went under the guillotine. Public political activism came at a very high price.

Conclusions

French women were confined to the private sphere at the beginning of the French Revolution. Family responsibilities and domestic duties determined their behavior and the domain of man was the public sphere. However, the ideas of equality and freedom that sparked the French Revolution captured the attention of women from all walks of life. Women wanted to express their political views and grievances. The working classes took to the streets with their frustrations, such as finding affordable bread.

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