Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens

Olympe de Gouges

The Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the Female Citizen (in French Déclaration des Droits de la Femme et de la Citoyenne) is a text written on September 5, 1791 by the French writer Olympe de Gouges paraphrasing the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen proclaimed on August 26, 1789, the fundamental text of the French Revolution. It is one of the first historical documents that proposes female emancipation in the sense of equal rights or the juridical and legal equality of women in relation to men. This document was presented in the Legislative Assembly on October 28, 1791.

The evolution of the concept of human rights in the 16th century and extended by the social thinkers of the 17th century and the Enlightenment of the 18th century, with the first liberal revolutions, was collected in normative texts: the Virginia Declaration of Rights, in the context of the Independence of the United States (1776), and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, in the French Revolution (1789). In none of these documents were women considered.

Throughout history, women have been socially, economically and politically relegated to the background by men. Obviously it is necessary to differentiate here the situation of women according to peoples, societies and civilizations.

Analysis

Olympe de Gouges was entirely inspired by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and drafted an adaptation only changing the word man to woman. In some passages she equated the same rights for both sexes, and in other articles she highlighted the predominance of men over women.

It consists of a preamble dedicated to Queen Marie Antoinette, the preamble to the work, 17 articles, and an epilogue.

At the time only 5 copies were distributed, it was not until 1840 that some extracts from the Declaration were published. The integral text was released in 1986 by the writer Benoîte Groult.

Articles on the rights of Women and Citizens

Preamble: Mothers, daughters, sisters, representatives of the nation ask that they be constituted as a national assembly. Considering that ignorance, oblivion or contempt for women ' s rights are the only causes of public evils and corruption of 105 Governments, they have resolved to present in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of women so that this declaration, constantly present to all members of the social body, constantly reminds them of their rights and duties, in order that the acts of the power of women and those of the most respected citizenry may be fulfilled. Therefore, the higher sex both in beauty and in courage, in the maternal sufferings, recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following Rights of Women and Citizen:

1. The woman is born, remains and dies free as the man in rights.
2. The goal of any political association is to preserve the natural and imprescriptible rights of women and men; these rights are freedom, property, security and, above all, resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation which is nothing but the meeting of Women and Man: no body, no individual, can exercise authority that does not emanate from them.
4. Freedom and justice consist of restoring everything that belongs to others; thus, the exercise of the natural rights of women is bound only by the perpetual tyranny which man opposes; these limits must be corrected by the laws of nature and reason.
5. The laws of nature and reason prohibit all actions detrimental to the Society: all that is not prohibited by these laws, prudent and divine, cannot be prevented and no one can be compelled to do what they do not order.
6. The law must be the expression of the general will; all Citizens and Citizens must participate in their training personally or through their representatives. It must be the same for all; all citizens and all citizens, because they are equal in their eyes, must be equally admissible to all the dignity, positions and public employments, according to their abilities and without distinction as to their virtues and talents.
7. No woman is exempt from being charged, detained and imprisoned in cases determined by the Act. Women obey this rigorous Law as men.
8. The Act should only establish strict and evidently necessary penalties and no one could be punished more than by a law previously established and promulgated to the crime and legally applied to women.
9. All the rigour of the Law shall fall over any woman who has been convicted.
10. No one should be disturbed by their even fundamental opinions; if the woman has the right to go up to the siege, she must also have the right to go up to the Tribune so that her manifestations do not alter the public order established by the Law.
11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of women, since this freedom ensures the legitimacy of parents with regard to children. Every citizen can say freely, therefore, I am the mother of a child who belongs to you, without a barbaric prejudice that forces him to conceal the truth; with the saving of responding for the abuse of this freedom in the cases determined by the Law.
12. The guarantee of women ' s and citizens ' rights implies greater usefulness; this guarantee must be instituted for the benefit of all and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it is entrusted.
13. For the maintenance of the public force and for the costs of administration, the contributions of women and men are the same; it participates in all personal benefits, in all painful tasks, therefore it must participate in the distribution of posts, jobs, posts, dignity and other activities.
14. Citizens and Citizens have the right to verify, by themselves or through their representatives, the need for public contribution. Citizens can only approve it if an equal share is allowed, not only in the fortune but also in the public administration, and if they determine the quota, the tax base, the collection and the duration of the tax.
15. The mass of women, grouped with that of men for the contribution, has the right to seek accounts from their administration to any public agent.
16. Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured, nor the separation of the powers determined, has no constitution; the constitution is void if most of the individuals that make up the Nation have not cooperated in its wording.
17. The properties belong to all sexes assembled or separated; they are, for each one, an inviolable and sacred right; no one can be deprived of it as a true heritage of nature unless the public necessity, legally established, demands it in an obvious way and under the condition of just and prior compensation.

Epilogue: Woman, wake up; the rebate of reason is heard throughout the universe; recognize your rights. The powerful empire of nature has ceased to be surrounded by prejudices, fanaticism, superstition and lies. The torch of truth has dissipated all the clouds of folly and usurpation. The slave man has redouble his forces and has needed to appeal to yours to break their chains. But once in freedom, she's been unfair to her partner. Oh, women! When will you stop being blind? What advantages have you gained from the revolution? A more marked contempt, a more visible disdain. [...] Whatever obstacles you face, you can overcome them; you just wish it.

Declaration Value

The Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen constitutes by itself an argument in favor of women's demands and an authentic proclamation of the universalization of human rights.

Its author denounced that the revolution forgot women in its project of equality and freedom. She defended that “woman is born free and she must remain equal to man in rights” and that “the Law must be the expression of the general will; all Citizens must contribute, personally or through their representatives, to their training”.

She demanded equal treatment for women in all spheres of life, both public and private: the right to vote and private property, to be able to participate in education and in the army, and to hold public office, going so far as to ask for equality of power in the family and in the Church. Only some of the rights were accepted, but that was a few years later.

The feminist approach was not shared by the men who led the revolution, not even the most radical. Olympe de Gouges was accused of treason against the revolution for opposing the death penalty against King Louis XVI, for this charge she was arrested and guillotined on November 3, 1793.

"The Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizen It itself constitutes a brilliant and radical claim for women's claims and an authentic proclamation of the universalization of human rights."