Historians since the late 20th century have debated how women shared in the French Revolution and what impact it had on French women. 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. These women demanded equality for women and then moved on to a demand for the end of male domination. Their chief vehicle for agitation were pamphlets and women's clubs. The Jacobin 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.Louis Devance, "Le Féminisme pendant la Révolution Française," Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française (1977) 49#3 pp 341-376 A decade later the Napoleonic Code confirmed and perpetuated women's second-class status.Jane Abray, "Feminism in the French Revolution," American Historical Review (1975) 80#1 pp. 43-62 in JSTOR

The French Revolution also sparked the modern feminist movement as women's rights resonated globally. It inspired movements like New Zealand's suffrage bill and helped shape the foundation of modern feminism, challenging traditional gender roles and advocating for universal equality.

Traditional roles of Pre-Revolutionary Women Women in pre-Revolutionary France could not vote or hold any political office. They were considered "passive" citizens, forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them in the government. It was the men who defined these categories, and women were forced to accept male domination in the political sphere.Scott "Only Paradoxes to Offer" 34–35

Single and married women had the same lack of rights. They did have rights in civil and criminal courts, which allowed their testimonies to be heard. In some instances, women were allowed to be part of contractual relationships however, they were not allowed to be part of notarized acts such as wills. For most women, all of their rights were under their father's authority until marriage, then the authority would be passed down to the husband. Married women had no rights over themselves nor any property. Only in the instance of her husband's death women would be allowed ownership over property. Laws and traditions confined women to work strenuous, labor-intensive jobs, which gave earnings that were significantly lower than men's income, and did not allow rights to improve their status or become masters at their trade. Women had some political rights, including women in religious orders, noblewomen and some women of the Third Estate including widows. Their involvement in political matters pertained to being allowed to send representatives to participate in primary assemblies.

Women were taught to be committed to their husbands and "all his interests...[ Whatever it may be like cooking food, doing chores.]attention and care... [and] sincere and discreet zeal for his salvation." A woman's education often consisted of learning to be a good wife and mother; thus, women were not supposed to be involved in the political sphere, as the limit of their influence was the raising of future citizens.Marquise de Maintenon, "Writings" 321 The subservient role of women before the revolution was perhaps best exemplified by the Frederician Code, published in 1761 and attacked by Enlightenment philosophers and publications.

The highly influential Encyclopédie in the 1750s set the tone of the Enlightenment, and its ideas exerted influence on the subsequent Revolution in France. Writing several articles on women in society, Louis de Jaucourt criticized traditional roles for women, arguing that "it would be difficult to demonstrate that the husband's rule comes from nature, in as much as this principle is contrary to natural human equality... a man does not invariably have more strength of body, of wisdom, of mind or conduct than a woman... The example of England and Russia shows clearly that women can succeed equally in both moderate and despotic government..." One of the greatest influences foreshadowing the revolutionary and republican transformations in women's roles was Jean-Jacques Rousseau's educational treatise Emile (1762).Joan Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution (1988) Some liberal men advocated equal rights for women, including women's suffrage. Nicolas de Condorcet was especially noted for his advocacy, in his articles published in the Journal de la Société de 1789, and by publishing De l'admission des femmes au droit de cité ("For the Admission to the Rights of Citizenship For Women") in 1790.David Williams,"Condorcet, Feminism, and the Egalitarian Principle." Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 5 (1976): 151+.Barbara Brookes, "The feminism of Condorcet and Sophie de Grouchy." Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 189 (1980): 314+

Revolutionary Roles of the French Women When the Revolution started, some women struck forcefully, using the volatile political climate to assert their active natures. In the time of the Revolution, women could not be kept out of the political sphere. They swore oaths of loyalty, "solemn declarations of patriotic allegiance, [and] affirmations of the political responsibilities of citizenship." De Corday d'Armont is a prime example of such a woman: sympathetic to the revolutionary political faction of the Girondists, she assassinated the Jacobin leader, Jean-Paul Marat. Throughout the Revolution, other women such as Pauline Léon and her Society of Revolutionary Republican Women supported the radical Jacobins, staged demonstrations in the National Assembly and participated in the riots, often using armed force.Dalton "Madame Roland" 262

Feminist agitation

The Women's March on Versailles is but one example of feminist militant activism during the French Revolution. While largely left out of the thrust for increasing rights of citizens, as the question was left indeterminate in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen,Rebel Daughters: Women and the French Revolution Edited by Sara E Melzer and Leslie W. Rabine pg. 79 activists such as Pauline Léon and Théroigne de Méricourt agitated for full citizenship for women.Women and the Limits of Citizenship in the French Revolution by Olwen W. Hufton pg. 23–24 Women were, nonetheless, "denied political rights of 'active citizenship' (1791) and democratic citizenship (1793)".

Pauline Léon, on 6 March 1792, submitted a petition signed by 319 women to the National Assembly requesting permission to form a garde national to defend Paris in case of military invasion. Léon requested permission be granted to women to arm themselves with pikes, pistols, sabers and rifles, as well as the privilege of drilling under the French Guards. Her request was denied.Rebel Daughters by Sara E Melzer and Leslie W. Rabine pg. 89 Later in 1792, Théroigne de Méricourt made a call for the creation of "legions of amazons" to protect the revolution. As part of her call, she claimed that the right to bear arms would transform women into citizens.Women and the Limits of Citizenship by Olwen W. Hufton pg. 23–24

On 20 June 1792, many armed women took part in a procession that "passed through the halls of the Legislative Assembly, into the Tuileries Gardens, and then through the King's residence."Rebel Daughters by Sara E Melzer and Leslie W. Rabine pg. 91 Militant women also assumed a special role in the funeral of Marat, following his murder on 13 July 1793. As part of the funeral procession, they carried the bathtub in which Marat had been murdered as well as a shirt stained with Marat's blood.Women and the Limits of Citizenship by Olwen W. Hufton pg. 31

The most radical militant feminist activism was practiced by the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, which was founded by Léon and her colleague, Claire Lacombe on 10 May 1793.Rebel Daughters by Sara E Melzer and Leslie W. Rabine pg. 92 The club's goal was "to deliberate on the means of frustrating the projects of the enemies of the Republic." Up to 180 women attended the meetings of the Society.Deviant Women of the French Revolution and the Rise of Feminism by Lisa Beckstrand pg. 17 Of special interest to the Society was "combating hoarding [of grain and other staples] and inflation."Women and the Limits of Citizenship by Olwen W. Hufton pg. 25 On 20 May 1793, women were at the fore of a crowd that demanded "bread and the Constitution of 1793." When their cries went unnoticed, the women went on a rampage, "sacking shops, seizing grain and kidnapping officials."Gender, Society and Politics: France and Women 1789–1914 by James H. McMillan pg. 24

The Society demanded a law in 1793 that would compel all women to wear the tricolore cockade insignia to demonstrate their loyalty to the Republic. They also repeated their demands for vigorous price controls to keep bread – the major food of the poor people – from becoming too expensive. After the Convention passed the cockade law in September 1793, the Revolutionary Republican Women demanded vigorous enforcement. Still, they were countered by market women, former servants, and religious women who adamantly opposed price controls (which would drive them out of business) and resented attacks on the aristocracy and religion. They said that "Only whores and female Jacobins wear cockades." Fistfights broke out in the streets between the two factions of women.Darline Gay Levy, Harriet Branson Applewhite and Mary Durham Johnson, eds. Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795 (1981) pp 143-49

Meanwhile, the men who controlled the Jacobins rejected the Revolutionary Republican Women as dangerous rabble-rousers. At this point, the Jacobins controlled the government; they dissolved the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women and decreed that all women's clubs and associations were illegal. They sternly reminded women to stay home and tend to their families by leaving public affairs to the men. Organized women were permanently shut out of the French Revolution after October 30, 1793.Levy et al. Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795 (1981) pp 143-49 Women's breasts were seen as a natural sign that women were to be barred from citizenship and the wielding of political power; women were to be relegated to the domestic sphere and motherhood.Porter, Roy, and Mikulas Teich, eds. Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science. CUP Archive, 1994, p.202

Most of these outwardly activist women were punished for their militancy. The kind of punishment received during the Revolution included public denouncement, arrest, execution, or exile. Théroigne de Méricourt was arrested, publicly flogged and then spent the rest of her life sentenced to an insane asylum. Pauline Léon and Claire Lacombe were arrested, later released, and continued to receive ridicule and abuse for their activism. Many of the Revolution women were even publicly executed for "conspiring against the unity and the indivisibility of the Republic".Deviant Women by Beckstrand pg. 20

Women writers

While some women chose a militant and often violent path, others chose to influence events through writing, publications, and meetings. Olympe de Gouges wrote several plays, short stories, and novels. Her publications emphasized that women and men are different, but this shouldn't stop them from equality under the law. In her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen she insisted that women deserved rights, especially in areas concerning them directly, such as divorce and recognition of illegitimate children.De Gouges "Writings" 564–568