Women's Role In The French Revolution

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The French Revolution started from 1789 to 1975. It was a very important time in history and it changed the world politically, economically, and socially. It especially changed the lives of women and the role they played in France. The change that took over France made women of different classes and to rethink about their roles in society. Many people don’t realize this, but women played a very important role in the events throughout the Revolution. They participated in politics by joining clubs and being part of the feminist movements. Before the Enlightenment, women in Europe had very little to no rights at all. They were expected to be well-dressed, poised, and pleasing to eye. The wives were expected to produce children to continue the …show more content…

Many people believe that men were part those events, but in reality it was women that played an important role. The attack of Bastille started on July 14, 1789 and an angry mob stormed into a fortress, looking for weapons. The attack was recognized as the start of the Revolution. During the summer of 1789, the prices of bread were increasing because of poor harvest and grain shortage. This had a major impact on peasants, who barely make enough money to support their families to begin with. Aristocratic landowners started to send people to keep their crops safe from the peasants. This started a huge chaos because of the anxiety and stress over the shortage of bread and the peoples’ anger with the country, the peasants started to arm themselves and started to attack their landlords’ manor houses. They destroyed the paperwork that tied them to any obligations and stole grain supplies from local merchants. Soon the local militaries started to establish order and a proclamation was issued from the National Assembly that abolished feudalism and relinquished their feudal …show more content…

While women had gained more rights than they had in the past, these were all taken away by the Napoleonic Codes in 1804. The feminist movement failed not because the National Assembly stifled the political actions of women, but it failed because it didn’t have enough support. A majority of women didn’t want to change their social status and accepted the 18th century ideals of domesticity and femininity. They basically accepted that as the norm. There were many noticeable differences between the women of the working and upper class. There was a difference in needs between the two classes. The movement was mainly about aristocratic women and they had more of an advantage since they could pay for popular clubs while the working class just had a passion for the revolutionary ideals and causes. They marched to Versailles during the October Days of 1789, while most of the upper class women went and stay hidden in to avoid suspicion and being guillotined. They didn’t have to worry as much as the working class to support their families, even during the times of inflation and near starvation. They just didn’t have the same concerns of maintaining a standard of daily living that the lower class did so there was just a big gap in terms of lifestyles between the women of the two

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