Evaluate the role of women in France before the french revolution
Answers
1. Women were active participants of the revolt.
2. many women clubs came into existence to voice their interests.
3. they wanted to enjoy the same rights as that of men
4. one of them is olympe de gouges who was active throughout the revolution.
Answer:
i) Though women had a low status in the 18th-century French society, they played an active role in the French Revolution.
ii) In order to discuss and voice their interest, women started their own political clubs and newspapers.
iii) About 60 women’s clubs came up in different French cities. The society of Revolutionary and Republican Women were the most famous of them.
iv) The Constitution of 1791 had reduced them to the passive citizen. So, they demanded the same political rights as men and the right to vote and hold political office
v) Their struggle for equal political rights continued during the ‘reign of terror’ even though the government banned their clubs and political activities. Many women were arrested and executed and finally they had got the right to vote in 1946.