Women's Rights In 'Out Of The Shadows'

Throughout the French Revolution, many people give recognition to the rights men gained because of the Declaration of the Right of Man and Citizen. People often overlook the struggle women of this time had with gaining rights. Shirley Elson Rossler, author of Out of the Shadows, recognizes the struggle saying, “The topic of women's participation in the French Revolution has generally received little attention from historians, who have displayed a tendency to minimize the role of women in the major events of those years, or else to ignore it altogether.”i Women may not have gained clearly stated rights during the time of the revolution, but their activities and participation had much influence on women's rights and feminism for years to come. The French Revolution may have attempted to curtail the rights of women,

Women in the Old Regime, both married and single had few political and social rights under this system. Women were controlled by their fathers until marriage and then the control move to their husbands. They were unable to hold power over any property and had an unfavorable economic stance. They received little pay and were usually confined to domestic work. Many people, including philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, believed that women should not involve themselves in politics. “As the historian Carla Hesse has shown, the primary argument against women's political rights was that they were incapable of reason and independent judgment.”ii People felt that a woman's place was in the home, with the children, sexual equality was not favored by many. Improvement of a woman's status meant they would receive rights to education, not voting. Many felt that a woman should be educated because she was the first form of education a child would be subjected to before schooling. Women were not seen an a persecuted group such as Jews, therefore they did not attain importance from others to gain