What Role Did Women Play In The French Revolution

This made the French Revolution really kick off. The Third Estate community now understood that they were being taken advantaged of. They began raids such as The Women’s March on Versailles. “After meeting with a delegation of these women, who tearfully described how their children were starving for lack of bread, Louis XVI promised them grain supplies for Paris, thinking that this would end the protest. But the women’s action had forced the Paris National Guard under Lafayette to follow their lead and march to Versailles” (569 Spielvogel)

During the March on Versailles, women boldly took a stand against unfair charges. Prices were increasing so much on bread alone, that they could not afford to buy it for their families. My family and I, peasants from the Third Estate, almost starved to death. Enough was enough, so we had to take a stand. The March on Versailles was made up of six thousand women, who marched from Paris to Versailles, in the pouring rain.

Women were considered inferior to men; they had to rights and most of all no voice. Typically, as the old saying goes ‘they were to be seen and not hear’. Revolutionary Mothers, by Carol Berkin tells of the general stereotypes of women in America, the roles in which they played during the America revolution, and lastly it tells the story of the women through their own words. Stereotypes of Women In chapter one, Berkin states “God had created her to be a helpmate to man….and formed her for this purpose…to be frugal, and obedient (2005, p.4)”.

Marie Antoinette was the Queen of France. She was born in Vienna, Austria. She was born November 2nd, 1755. Marie Antoinette was a daughter of the Emperor Francis 1st of Lorraine. She was married to her husband, Louis Auguste, on May 16th, 1770.

The French Revolution occurred due to the curtailing of the estates’ rights under King Louis XIV, who attempted to rule as an absolute autocrat and was later executed for this. The Enlightenment made it permissible for people to speak and question the rights of the time. After the Enlightenment, social rights, religious rights, and gender rights were expanded and advanced. Document one speaks of natural rights that extends to all of humanity with natural rights being any right that doesn’t hurt another, “You have the most sacred natural right to everything that is not disputed by the rest of the species.” By being a natural right, it couldn’t be denied to anyone, no matter gender, race, or time period.

According to Zagarri, by 1735 women in England began to protest due to their status. Women felt they could be better, in fact, in the colonies, women too began to protest. Also, up to the start of the Revolution men began to take up arms, many women took over the responsibilities of their husbands.

The people of France have endured many hardships as the result of several conflicting ideas being proposed about the National Assembly, our governing body and it effectiveness in ruling our great nation. An issue of Women’s suffrage proposed to the National Assembly enlisted great controversy from the Jacobin’s Buzot and Section Leader Rolin. Pro-women’s rights, Section Leader Rolin made the compelling argument that women are the backbone of today’s society and should be allowed a voice in our governing body. She claimed ‘women take care of our city, they have helped bring down King Louis XVI, and this proves women are indeed strong’.

From the beginning of the revolution, women

The Women’s March on Versailles began on October 5, 1789 in the streets of Paris (Sherman 494). The event, also referred to as the October Days or the October March (Racz 160), would play an important role in the French Revolution as the women of Paris rallied against the French government. What began as a demand for a steady source of nutrition became a way for the women of France to take political action of their own. Ultimately, the march, which included an eleven-mile journey to Versailles, ended in the transfer of King Louis XVI and the rest of the royal family to Paris (Sherman 494). With the leaders of the French monarchy in captivity, the march would have a lasting legacy that not only advanced the French citizens’ uprise against their government.

If women continued to gain power and independence then the fabric of society would disintegrate and gender relations would be altered, which men did not want to happen. Americans had a choice of keeping the practices and ideals of the revolution concerning women or maintain the social

In her 1975 article, “Feminism in the French Revolution,” Jane Abray provides a dismissive view of women’s movements during the Revolution. In the article, Abray emphasizes the failures of revolutionary feminism. In her opinion, the most compelling reason for revolutionary feminism’s failure was that it was a minority interest that remained inaccessible to the majority of French women who accepted their inferior status to men. Abray suggests additional reasons for the movement’s “abject failure,” including its inability to garner support from the male leaders of the Revolution, the disreputable characters of the feminist leaders, the strategic errors made by the movement’s leaders, and a “spirit of the times” that emphasized the nuclear family

The Enlightenment was a time during the 17th and 18th century in Europe when the ideas of philosophers about an ideal government and human nature in society were being developed. Although women did not have equal rights as men, women did have the power to influence ideas during the Enlightenment. This is because they took on several roles as leaders, where they had chances and opportunities to act as philosophers and share their new ideas on the society of France. In Salons, high class parties during the Enlightenment that was a place for nobles, and their intellectuals to share their opinions and have conversations with one another was where both men and women were invited to participate and exchange ideas.

This is seen in the surprising Women’s March on Versaille, in which a mainly female group armed with weapons and cannons raided Versaille, the king’s palace, and the imperial court. Overall the social developments of France at this time were truly as a result of the broader Enlightenment

In her essay, Hunt utilizes pornographic pamphlets involving Queen Marie Antoinette in order to analyze the attitudes of the French regarding gender roles, and in this way she questions the traditional interpretation of the French revolution as a period of immense change. The pornographic pamphlets, which were circulated by French Revolutionaries, sexualized Marie Antoinette in order to debase her and destroy her reputation (lecture 10/20). Hunt argues that, since King Louis XVI was not included in these pamphlets, the French Revolutionaries did not simply wish to overthrow the monarchy, but also wished to enforce “a separation of women from the public sphere” (Hunt 213).   

After series of riots and uprisings within the years of the French Revolution, women began to form organizations in order to address demands for gender equality. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women, founded by Pauline Leon and Claire Lacombe, were two most famous political clubs within the National Assembly during the French Revolution. Although the clubs did not last long when Jacobins banned all women related clubs and societies in France, the two Societies brought important issues in regards to women’s political stand and of course, sexual equality. The initial political clubs were only consisted of men while women were excluded from being part of them. But as time passed, clubs were formed with the only female took part in