Women played a largely domestic role in 1700s France but wanted more rights and participation in the revolution. They organized marches and riots to help overthrow the monarchy. However, male revolutionary leaders still saw politics as a role for men only. Some women, like Olympe de Gouges, advocated publicly for women's equality through writings. While women gained some new rights, they did not achieve full political equality during the French Revolution.

1. Women of the
French Revolution
By: Maddie Dufek, Victoria
Durney, and Logan Cortez

2. Their Main Goals
• Remove the powerful, noble people and
monarchy from France.
• Get equal rights for everybody - rich and
poor, men and women.

3. Women in the 1700s…
• were viewed to play domestic roles, not public/political
roles (“Women and the Revolution”).
• pleaded for an education (“Women and the Revolution”).
• were usually peasants, shopkeepers, or laundresses
(“Women and the Revolution”).
• were defined by their gender and marriage
relationship, and not by their job (“Women and the
Revolution”).

4. Women
in the
1700s
Doing things
at home:
cooking,
knitting, and
watching
children.

5. Starting to Participate
• Women wanted to participate in every aspect of
the revolution (“Women and the Revolution”).
• Their participation was very controversial
(“Women and the Revolution”).
• Some women sent petitions to King Louis XVI
after he didn’t let women draft grievances or
name delegates at a meeting (“Women and the
Revolution”).
• Women rioted and attended political club
meetings (“Women and the Revolution”).

6. The Men’s Opinion.
• The leaders of political parties insisted that
politics were for men only (“Women’s
Rights”).
• They thought “Politics cannot be separated
from the culture and the social arrangements
in which it is grounded,” (“Women’s Rights”).
• The leaders of the revolution wanted to
reconstruct society (“Women’s Rights”).

7. • On October 5, 1789, a group of lower class Parisian women gathered together (“Women of the
French Revolution” 2).
• They decided to march 12 miles to Verailles, in the rain, joined by many other women and men
(“Women and the Revolution”).
• Before the march, the women said, “men didn’t understand anything about the matter *of a
revolution+ and that they wanted to play a role in affairs,” (“Women of the French Revolution” 3).
• Their goal was to seize the King and his family (“Women of the French Revolution” 2).
• They ended up breaking into the royal apartments and killing 2 bodyguards (“Women and the
Revolution”).
• After the march, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were forced to Paris (“Women and the French
Revolution” 3).
• Women as revolutionaries became a symbol of the power of the Revolution (“Women and the
French Revolution” 2).

8. Women of the
Revolution!

9. Olympe de
Gouges
• Olympe de Gouges is known to most for being a proto-
feminist call for equality of women (“Olympe de
Gouges”).
• Olympe de Gouges published a book called the
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, as a
wake-up call to women (“Women and the French
Revolution” 2).
• The book stated that “woman is born free and lives equal
to man in her rights,” (“Women and the French
Revolution” 2).
• In 1793 (“Olympe de Gouges”), she was beheaded for
getting mixed up in the republic (“Women and the French
Revolution” 3).

10. Some Controversies
• When women appearead at a National Convention meeting in
1791, they were told, “Be a woman. The tender cares owing
to infancy, household details, the sweet anxieties of
maternity, these are your labors.” (“Women and the French
Revolution” 3).
• In July 1790, Marie-Jean Caritat, a leading
aristocrat, published an article supporting full political rights
for women. It caused a sensation for both men and women
(“Women and the Revolution”).

11. Changes that were Made
• Women’s conditions did change from what
they were in the beginning of the revolution
(“Women and the French Revolution” 1).
• Women were granted more rights in 1790, but
they never gained full political equality during
the revolution (“Women and the Revolution”).

12. Works Cited
• “Women and the Revolution.” Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Web. 15 May
2012. <http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap5a.html>.
• 1. “Women and the French Revolution.” How Life Promotes Faith Rising. Web. 20 May 2012.
<http://badgerdown.blogspot.com/2011/10/women-and-french-revolution.html>.
• “Women’s Rights.” History 1C. Web. 20 May 2012.
<http://www.csuchico.edu/~ktranschel/pages/h.01.frenchrev.html>.
• 2. “Women and the French Revolution.” The French Revolution. Web. 23 May 2012.
<http://faculty.fullerton.edu/nfitch/history110b/rev.html>.
• 3. “Women and the French Revolution.” Web. 15 May 2012.
<http://people.usd.edu/~clehmann/HWB/hwb_r/Womenrev.html>.
• Headsman. “Olympe de Gouges.” Executed Today. 3 Nov. 2008. Web. 23 May 2012.
<http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/11/03/1793-olympe-de-gouges-a-head-of-her-time/>.

13. Works Cited (for pictures)
• http://niki44.edu.glogster.com/the-french-revolution/
• http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/ModestDress.html
• http://bjws.blogspot.com/2011_05_07_archive.html
• http://www.ehow.com/info_8383421_powdered-wigs-worn-women-
1700s.html
• http://www.oakhillclothiers.com/Catalog/1700s/WomensClothes/Accesso
ries/tabid/95/Default.aspx
• http://libcom.org/history/political-revolution-women-case-paris-darline-
gay-levy-harriet-b-applewhite
• http://www.onthisdeity.com/3rd-november-1793-–-the-death-of-olympe-
de-gouges/