Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges was a French playwright and political writer of the Revolution, born Marie Gouze in Montauban. In 1791 she published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, which rewrote the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man article by article to include women. She also wrote early attacks on slavery and proposals on divorce, children's rights and social welfare. A moderate who opposed the execution of Louis XVI and attacked Robespierre, she was guillotined in Paris in November 1793.

Key ideas

• Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights.
• If women may mount the scaffold, they must equally have the right to mount the speaker's platform.
• Marriage should become a social contract between man and woman, with equal rights over property and children.
• Colonial slavery is an injustice, and she was among the first in France to oppose it publicly.

Major works

• Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791)
• Réflexions sur les hommes nègres (1788)
• Zamore et Mirza (1784)

In the Book corner

• Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen 1791 · Beginner
  A pamphlet published in Paris in September 1791 by a playwright and political writer, answering the Declaration of the Rights of Man…

In the conversation

No topics yet. Start one about this thinker.