Gendering the Nation Online Museum Exhibit
Created by the class of HIST 465 (Topics in Women's History) 2015-16
Queens University, Canada
Revolutionary Crusaders: The Women of Paris and their Fight for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
Eighteenth-century France was filled with hardship, hunger and social change for the majority of men and women. The corruption of the France’s societal and political structure, combined with the secularization brought about by the Enlightenment, provided the perfect scene for a complete societal reform. Throughout the eighteenth-century, France’s economy was failing, the majority of the population was starving and war was brewing. All of these struggles came to a boiling point in 1789 when King Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates-General, a forum in which all three estates of the Ancien Regime (the nobility, the clergy, and the peasants) met with the King to air their grievances. The Estates-General ended with the members of the third and largest estate, the peasants, walking out and forming the National Assembly, a legislative body that would lead the French people into an era of Revolution and reform.
The French Revolution is one of the best known and well-studied “revolutions” that has occurred in world history; however, much of this scholarship is viewed from either a strictly political lens, or from a male perspective. Where were the women in the French Revolution? History would have you believe that the women of the French Revolution stayed in their homes and gave birth to respectable, revolutionary sons, but this was simply not the case. Women of the French Revolution defied the gender roles and expectations set out for them by Enlightenment thought, and actively used the revolutionary climate to enter the public arena like never before. The women of France looked past the boundaries of the class system, and collectively worked towards being politically recognized as French citizens. The French Revolution of 1789 completely altered the meaning of femininity and womanhood, as women used revolutionary rhetoric to include themselves in the redefined vision of the French nation.
Late eighteenth-century France was not only having problems with governing its own people, but was also having issues with foreign policy. Tensions between France, Austria, and Prussia were almost at crisis level, and the call to arms was in effect. Many French men were called to serve the National Guard to either manage internal uprisings, or fight in foreign lands. Women were not allowed to serve the King in this way, but were affected by war nonetheless. The majority of women were forced to send their husbands and sons off to war, as displayed in this painting by the woman in white kissing her love goodbye, and the various women literally offering up their baby sons for the good of France. In this scene, Lady Liberty is shown to be looking over all those going off to war, with prospective soldiers paying homage to her grace before departing for their unknown destiny.
(Retrieved from George Mason University and City University of New York - http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap5a.html)
The Enlightened Woman
The early eighteenth-century saw a complete overhaul of French society, with regards to moral thought and philosophy. The Enlightenment period brought forward a class of philosophes, whom used reason as an educative tool. During this time, the philosophes publicly encouraged intellectual conversation amongst men, usually of a political or social nature. The use of reason during the early eighteenth-century resulted in a major step away from the Church, and people began to question authority. This secularization effect formed the basis of many Enlightenment theories, specifically theories regarding the difference between “man” and “woman”.
Excerpt from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile
“Men depend on women because of their desires; women depend on men both because of their desires and because of their needs…In order that they have the necessities of life, in order that they be in their proper state, it is necessary that we give it to them, that we wish to give it to them, that we deem them worthy: they depend on our sentiment, on the price that we put on their merit, on our estimation of their charms and their virtues. By the law of nature even, women are at the mercy of the judgments of men….to please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honored by them…behold the duties of women.”
The Enlightenment saw a return to “nature”, and an increase in biological and medical studies. It was believed that men and women were both biologically predestined to do certain things, and that those who strayed from gender norms were considered “unnatural”. From this framework, males were physically created stronger in both the mind and body, and were therefore suited for active roles in public life and the political realm. Females, on the other hand, were predestined to reproduce, and to nurture, which would require them to stay in the private realm of the home. Due to the active nature of males and the passive nature of females, women were expected to be submissive to men. The Enlightenment “woman” was therefore expected to be chaste and virtuous. She was educated in how to run a household and how to properly rear children, but further education than this was considered unnatural, as according to this framework, the female brain was not capable of understanding the same concepts as the male brain. The Revolution of 1789 brought about a time for the women of France to question the presumed authority of men.
Denis Diderot’s Article, “Woman”, from the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire, 1751-65, Volume 6: 468-76
“The positive rights of civilized nations, like the laws and customs and Europe, now grant this authority unanimously and definitively to the male, who, being gifted with greater strength of mind and body, contributes more to the common good in matters both human and holy. Women, then, must necessarily be subordinate to their husbands and obey his orders on all household issues. These are the opinions of legal advisors, both in olden times and now, as well as the unequivocal decision of legislators.”
Denis Diderot’s Encyclopédie was, and still is, a momentous work. Written in 1751, all seventeen volumes include descriptions of everything from different species of birds to how to assemble a printing press. Diderot’s thoughts of “woman” are the perfect image of enlightened attitudes towards the status of man versus woman. According to the text, women were meant to be completely inferior to their head of house, whether that is their father, husband or even son. Women were meant to remain in the household and submit to whatever was asked of them, remaining virtuous and respectable at all times. Enlightenment thought regarding the differences between man and woman were based on theories of “nature”, and biological origins of difference. This is exhibited clearly in Diderot’s entry, when he mentions that men are naturally “gifted with greater strength of mind and body”.
Retrieved from George Mason University and City University of New York - http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap5a.html#
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is another Enlightenment figure that had various opinions on the “nature” of women. His influential book, Emile, is full of analogies that all boil down to what nature dictates as the true differences between man and woman. Rousseau exhibits that it is the physiological nature of the female body and psyche that cause women to be subordinate to men, to depend on men. It is this very belief system that led to the conditions women faced before and during the Revolution of 1789. In Rousseau’s philosophy, women were tied to their reproductive functions of childbearing and child-rearing; women were meant to stay in the home, or the private sphere, and remain passive, while men were expected to be out in public, being active members of society. It is this exact attitude that women of the Revolution vigorously defied.
Retrieved from “Women, Equality and the French Revolution” by Candice E. Proctor
The Militant Woman
With the calling of the Estates-General in 1789, France’s political and societal structure was forever changed. The people of France recognized that together, they could overthrow anyone or anything that prevented them from achieving progress. The notion of “popular sovereignty” was present even from the early days of the National Assembly, and became a beacon of hope for the sans-culotte class later in the Revolution. “Popular sovereignty” essentially means that the “people”, as a political body, have the power to create, influence and sustain the government, as they make up the majority of voters. During the October Days, where women marched to Versailles to demand bread from the King himself, as well as during various political demonstrations, the people of France understood that together, they had the power to force statesmen into adopting policies that would promote their well being. The concept of popular sovereignty was very appealing for Parisian women at this time. No longer bound by the circumstances of class, sans-culotte women saw an arena for change, where they could be a part of the greater political “people” rather than letting men make all of the decisions for them. These women pushed past the private sphere that they were expected to stay in, and forced themselves into the forefront of political and social reform. These women were willing to physically fight for their right to popular sovereignty, to protect the ideals begun by the Revolution in 1789, but most of all, to defend the future citizens of France, their children. The militant sans-culotte woman occupied space in both the private sphere and the public sphere, and in so doing, denied the gender roles subscribed to her sex by the Enlightenment.
Fixed Image of Bread Riots in Fauxbourg Saint-Antoine, April 1789, by P. E. Lépine
This print displays one example of the many bread riots that occurred across France in the late eighteenth-century. This specific print comes from the Saint-Antoine suburb in Paris, in April 1789. During the first months of the year 1789, bread riots became more frequent and required more soldiers to settle them down. Who were the main players in these riots? Why, women of course! Its was up to working-class women to wait in the bread line for as long as was necessary to gather enough food for their families. There was no limit to how high bread prices could be, so when bread was scarce, prices were extremely expensive. For working-class families, purchasing enough bread to sustain three or more children was usually seen as an impossibility. Bread shortages caused women all over the nation to begin protests and riots in defense of their starving children, often requiring the King’s soldiers to intervene. Retrieved from Stanford University Libraries - http://frda.stanford.edu/en/catalog/vv739xw4182
Print Caricature of “Female Patriotism” by Isaac Cruickshank, 1789
In response to the rising bread prices and shortages, on October 5, 1789, the women of Paris marched to the Palace at Versailles to make King Louis XVI answer for not listening to his people. The “October Days” were the first display of female militant patriotism during the French Revolution; women from all over Paris took over the arms store at the Hôtel de Ville and grabbed any weapons they could carry. The majority of these women were working-class, or the sans-culotterie, whom were uneducated and used to the private sphere of domesticity. As these women arrived at Versailles, they marched into the National Assembly and begged the King for bread for their starving families. The King initially brushed them off and said he would provide these women with money. Instead of walking back to Paris without any bread, like the “Enlightenment Woman” would have been expected to, this army of women refused to leave the palace without getting what they wanted. In the end, as depicted by this caricature, the women brought “Le Roi Esclave” or “The Slave King”, back to Paris with them in order to hold him accountable for his words.
Retrieved from Bibliothèque Nationale de France - http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b69442301.r
Print of a Young Sans-Culotte Woman, Unknown Author, 1789
The young woman depicted here is the ultimate representation of the “sans-culotte” woman. The “sans-culotte” was the epitome of revolutionary ideals. The sans-culottes as a class were people who worked for a living and were therefore impacted by the rising prices of goods, but above all, they were the group of people who truly acted out the idea of “popular sovereignty”. The sans-culottes were recognizable by their dawning of the Phrygian cap, pictured here as the red hat, and striped pants. Female sans-culottes were especially revolutionary, as they were part of the collective “people”; they did everything that women were expected to do, but furthermore, were willing to commit acts of brutality to protect their families. The sans-culotte woman here is pictured holding a sword, symbolizing her willingness to defend her children, the future citizens of France.
Retrieved from Bibliothèque Nationale de France - http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6942888p.r=citoyenne
Sword Hilt with Revolutionary Icons
Imagery was heavily used during the French Revolution, especially with regards to the monarchy and the concept of “liberty”. The King was often depicted as a Lion, as lions are commonly seen as the top of the food chain in the animal kingdom, as depicted here on the handle of this sword hilt. The more common allegory that was used during the revolutionary period was that of “Lady Liberty”. Here, Lady Liberty is exhibited as the centerpiece of this elaborate sword hilt. The image of Lady Liberty was the most present in circulation, and is usually pictured as dressed in white, holding a scepter in one hand and a Phrygian cap in the other, or hanging on top of the scepter. Lady Liberty became the image of unity and of collectivity among the French people. For women, the image of Lady Liberty was empowering; she was self-sufficient and acted without male protectors. Together, the Lion and Lady Liberty represented the nation and the nation’s ideals.
Retrieved from George Mason University and City University of New York
The Political Woman
The militancy of French women throughout 1790-92 began to die out further into the Revolution. As the political climate shifted with new leaders taking charge, such as Maximilien Robespierre, the women of Paris began looking for new ways to remain involved in the furthering of the nation. As Robespierre took power in 1793, it became clear that the enlightened theories of nature regarding women’s status would be implemented once again. Women were encouraged to stay in the domestic sphere and out of the way of the real political players: the men of France. In the years previous, women had formed political clubs, such as the Citoyennes Républicaines Révolutionnaires, to discuss revolutionary political issues from a female perspective. Contrary to popular belief, these clubs were not solely focused on furthering the status of female citizens; rather, these clubs focused on how the nation as a whole could work together to achieve liberty, equality and fraternity. However, in 1793, the National Convention, headed by Robespierre, outlawed such women’s clubs. It was at this time that many women looked to their own homes as a way to express their patriotic sentiments. Those with children took on the role of the “mother of the house”, putting a republican spin on their traditional domestic gender role. At this time, women believed that they had the power of sensibilitié, the ability to evoke the emotions of others and teach proper morality. The republican woman applied the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity to their own homes – they had moral authority, and used this power to train their sons and daughters in the ways of the Revolution. In this way, women could still be a part of the betterment of the nation, through training the next generation of French citizens. The women of Paris during the French Revolution of 1789 were active agents through every stage of societal shifts. In every phase of the Revolution, Parisian women were focused on maintaining liberty, equality and fraternity, in whichever ways they were able.
Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women, Postscript, 1791
“Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition and lies. The flame of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has multiplied his strength and needs recourse to yours to break his chains.”
Olympe de Gouges, a prominent female pamphleteer, turned her focus towards political writing in 1788 when the chaos of French society began to strengthen. When the Declaration of the Rights of Man came out in 1789, it became clear to de Gouges very early on that women would not benefit from this revolutionary document. It was in 1791 that Olympe de Gouges published her best-known text, the Declaration of the Rights of Women. De Gouges used the original Declaration as a template, but instead looked at it from a woman’s point of view. She copied almost the entire preamble and seventeen articles word for word, simply replacing terms such as “man” with “woman”, or changed the statement to include women. This quotation is taken from the postscript that de Gouges wrote, that accompanies the Declaration of the Rights of Women. She uses this postscript to directly call out to the women of France, and to empower them to take political agency, even though men were trying to keep them in a subordinate state.
Retrieved from “The Old Regime and the French Revolution: Readings in Western Civilization”, edited by Keith Michael Baker
Print of the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Decreed by the National Assembly, by L. Laurent, Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier and Dien, 1789
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was an extremely pivotal document for the French Revolution. When the National Assembly decreed the Rights of Man in August 1789, it became a symbol of what the Revolution could accomplish. With this document, all men, excluding those who did not meet the minimum tax requirements, were granted suffrage. However, as the document’s title indicates, women were not included in this granting of suffrage. According to the Declaration, women were not political animals; the male citizen was seen as an active political member, who was allowed to service the nation in whatever capacity was necessary. Women, however, were still meant to serve the nation as a “republican wife”, whose only task was to produce and nurture sons who could one day actively participate in French politics. While the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was an essential document for furthering the overall Revolution, it perpetuated the detrimental Enlightenment view of women.
Retrieved from Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Music and Lyrics of “Le Chant des Citoyennes” by Auguste Perney and A. Emmanuel, 1790s
Pictured here is the music and lyrics to “Le Chant des Citoyennes”, a song meant to embody the ideals of the newly rising female citizen. At this point in the Revolution, republican women embraced their roles as mothers and actively reared their children in the ideals produced by revolutionary thought. While many women during this period were fighting for political representation, other women believed in their roles as mothers as means to further the nation. The refrain of this song, for example, translates into “Women standing, Progress calls us, for our children cultivate its lessons; man of honor formed at the breast, it is a duty, obey women. It is a duty, obey women.” Although a man wrote this song, the lyrics speak directly to the women of France, and empowered those who were uneducated to be an active part of progressing the nation.
Retrieved from Bibliothèque Nationale de France - http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530140410/f1.item.r=citoyennes