WOMEN IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: HISTORY AND ROLES - HISTORY - 2024

Women in the French Revolution assumed new roles of leadership, activism and organization of events that contributed, along with many other events of the time, to the fall of the French monarchy in 1792.

But before delving into this topic, we must enter into context: What was the French Revolution? This was a movement generated by the people in rejection of the policies of King Louis XVI.

Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada

Before the revolution the people were divided into social groups called "States". The first State, made up of members of the Church, the Second State by the nobles and the Third State by the commons.

The commons, the people, were forced to pay the highest amount of taxes, while the nobility led a life full of luxury that contrasted with the economic situation of the most disadvantaged.

The march to Versailles

On October 5, 1789, in response to the overpricing and shortage of bread, a large group of women walked the 21 kilometers that separated Paris from the Palace of Versailles, home of the royal family.

The objective of the demonstration was to demand a response from the King and force him to reside in Paris alongside the people. Eventually the men joined the group, adding at least 60,000 people to the protest.

The activity culminated the next day full of violence. Protesters entered the palace and killed two of the king's bodyguards. To prevent further bloodshed, the monarch moved his family to Paris.

This event occurred in the same year in which representatives of the Third State broke with the other States, established a National Assembly and demanded a series of rights from the monarchy. The storming of the Bastille prison had occurred only three months ago.

The beginning of the end of the monarchy had arrived.

The role of women in the French Revolution

The march to Versailles offers a clear idea of ​​how committed women were to actively participate in the changes necessary to have a country with better living conditions.

Women of all social strata were part of this movement. From those belonging to the working class, who participated in demonstrations, violent revolts and hid the persecuted; even the intellectuals who declared themselves defiant with their publications.

They were the ones that ran the clubs and salons where politicians and brilliant minds of the revolution debated and elaborated the concepts of a First Republic that had not yet been born.

Activists such as Pauline Léon (1768-1838) took up arms. She introduced to the National Assembly a petition signed by 319 women to form an armed female National Guard, with the aim of defending Paris in the event of an invasion.

A similar request was made by Theroigne de Mericourt (1762-1817), who called for the creation of a "Legion of Amazons" to protect the revolution. He even claimed that the right to carry a weapon would transform women into true citizens. Both requests were denied.

Female activism always raised controversy, since in the 18th century, women were seen biologically and socially different from men, destined exclusively for housework, guardians of morality and virtue.

Their presence was prohibited in the private assemblies of citizens, but this did not prevent them from going to the public ones, until they were also denied access to these.

They formed women's clubs to debate new laws and reforms, read about them to illiterate women, and led activism on issues such as the right to vote, property, and equal conditions in divorce. By 1793 these clubs were also banned.

Counterrevolutionary women

An important aspect during this time was the so-called movement of de-Christianization of the Church, a revolutionary action with which many did not agree, especially women who lived in rural areas.

Although these people embraced the political and social changes of the revolution, they opposed the dissolution of the Catholic Church and the formation of doctrines such as "The cult of the Supreme Being", promoted by the revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794).

These women began to see themselves as defenders of the faith, and they actively worked for change, circulating pamphlets and refusing to attend Masses celebrated by priests who had sworn allegiance to the Republic.

In defense of their equal rights

Women protested against every law that excluded them from the new France that was slowly forming.

Influential writers would take bold steps in defense of women's rights, such as Olympe De Gouges (1748-1793), founder of the Popular Society of Women and author of the Declaration of the Rights of Women and Female Citizenship in 1791.

This document arose in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens of 1789, from which they were totally excluded.

Unfortunately her ideas about equal rights led her to be executed by guillotine in 1793 during the so-called "reign of terror", a period of one year in which Robespierre persecuted every enemy of the revolution.

Women never got equal treatment during the French Revolution, none of the national assemblies even considered legislation granting them political rights. However, the insurgency did contribute to generating changes in their favor.

The end of the French Revolution

Historians mark the end of the French Revolution in 1799, when General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the Revolutionary Government, formed after the execution of King Louis XVI and his queen consort Marie Antoinette, an event that occurred seven years earlier.

With the beginning of the Republic, after the fall of the monarchy, historians affirm that the French Revolution forced women to be more aware of their status in society and that although their political and social rights were not addressed, they were not met either. forgotten over the years.

Today every day more is known about female participation in a struggle that had several fronts, since women not only concentrated on defending the right to food, but on achieving an equal place with political rights that would promote changes in the society in which they lived.

References

1. Prince Kumar. (2010) Role of Women in French Revolution. Taken from academia.edu
2. Yves Bessiéres and Patricia Niedzwiscki. (1991). Women in the French Revolution. Archive of European Integration. Taken from pitt.edu
3. Historical Reflections (1995). Feminism, Women and the French Revolution. Published by Berghahn Books. Taken from jstor.org
4. Science and Society. (1952). Feminism, Women and the French Revolution. Published by Berghan Books. Taken from jstor.org
5. Sonali Gupta. (2014). Liberty for All? An exploration of the status of women in Revolutionary France. Indiana University. Taken from indiana.edu
6. Article from the encyclopedia "Woman". Women and the Revolution. Taken from chnmgmu.edu.