Declaration of the Rights of Woman
by Olympe de Gouges · Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1791
- Language
- French
- Length
- Short · 15 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe French Revolution and Human Rights, A Brief Documentary History, translated by Lynn HuntBedford/St. Martin's, 2016Places the Declaration beside the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man it rewrites and the other revolutionary debates on rights.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
A pamphlet published in September 1791, dedicated to Marie Antoinette, that rewrites the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen article by article to include women. Woman is born free and equal to man in rights; she has the right to mount the scaffold and so must have the right to mount the rostrum. A preamble, seventeen articles and a postscript call on women to wake up, and a model marriage contract proposes an equal partnership of property. De Gouges was guillotined in 1793.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Declaration of the Rights of Woman are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.