Question

explain the condition of women in France before and after revolution

Answer 1

Women had no political rights in pre-Revolutionary France; they were considered "passive" citizens; forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them. That changed dramatically in theory as there seemingly were great advances in feminism. Feminism emerged in Paris as part of a broad demand for social and political reform. The women demanded equality to men and then moved on to a demand for the end of male domination. Their chief vehicle for agitation were pamphlets and women's clubs, especially the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women. However, the Jacobin(radical) element in power abolished all the women's clubs in October 1793 and arrested their leaders. The movement was crushed. Devance explains the decision in terms of the emphasis on masculinity in wartime, Marie Antoinette's bad reputation for feminine interference in state affairs, and traditional male supremacy.[1] A decade later theNapoleonic Code confirmed and perpetuated women's second-class status.[2]

Answer 2

Condition of Women before the French Revolution: a. Women were considered to be socially inferior to men, Mostwomen had no access to education. ...Women from the third estates were involved in small jobs, some sold fruits, flowers, some were employed as domestic servants.


The original question — the one that induced me to attempt and answer — was, “What do we learn from women during the French Revolution?” How it became thus altered I can’t explain, but these are two very different inquiries. But let me try both. French women were active participants in the revolution, not only giving support (feeding the revolutionaries, bringing powder, etc), but manning barricades and sometimes putting themselves into the thick of battle. As to their “condition” — no better, certainly, than the average French man, and usually considerably worse; i.e., they lived lives of grinding poverty, and had few rights. So to conclude: what we learned from women during the French Revolution is that women, like people everywhere, will suffer only so much indignity before they react violently.