Olympe de Gouges

French author and activist Marie Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) achieved modest success as a play wright in the 18th century, but she became best known for her political writing and support of the French Revolution. Considered a feminist pioneer, de Gouges was an advocate of women's rights. Her most famous work was The Declaration of the Rights of Woman, (1791). Even in revolutionary France, feminist ideas were considered radical. In 1793, she was executed for crimes against the government.

The sociopolitical works that de Gouge produced during this period focused strongly on the issues of civil rights, particularly the rights of women, which she deemed were "natural" and "inalienable." Her dedication to and advocacy for these issues stemmed from her much broader belief in the complete equality of all human beings.

The revolution created the type of environment that fostered innovative ideas such as feminism. One of the feminist organizations created during this period was the Society of Republican and Revolutionary Women. Its members encouraged de Gouges to develop a document that would essentially serve as a declaration of rights for women. She set out to produce the work, which would eventually be published as the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen in 1791.

In the meantime, her name was becoming widely known in radical circles, just as it had a few years earlier when she established her standing in the bourgeois. In October 1789, the year the French Revolution came to a boil, she proposed a radical reform platform to the French National Assembly, a governing body comprised of the nation's new leaders. Appearing before this board, she advocated for the complete legal equality of the sexes, more job opportunities for women, a legal alternative to the private dowry system, better education for young girls, and the establishment of a national theater that would show only plays written by women.

Declaration of Women's Rights

Finally published in September of 1791, the Declaration of the Rights of Woman (Déclaration of the Droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne) was, in a way, a response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen that was published in 1789 and was to the French Revolution what the Declaration of Independence was the to the American Revolution. De Gouge's declaration called for an extension of the rights demanded in the latter including complete freedom of speech, the right to vote, and the opportunity to seek public office. Lest anyone miss her point, de Gouge employed the same kind of language and rhetoric that characterized the male "Declaration."

De Gouge dedicated the work to Queen Marie Antoinette, hoping that the royal would support women's rights. The work consists of a preamble, 17 articles, and an epilogue. Her words were provocative and incited women to action. In the epilogue, de Gouge proclaimed,

 "Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition, and lies. The flame of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has multiplied his strength and needs recourse to yours to break his chains. Having become free, he has become unjust to his companion. Oh, women, women! When will you cease to be blind? What advantage have you received from the Revolution?"

Essentially, the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen stated that women were equal to men in every respect and thus were entitled to the same rights. The work would create enemies for de Gouge; she believed that because many women participated in the French Revolution, they would or should automatically receive the new-found rights extended to the male citizenry.