Women during the French Revolution

How were women conceptualized by revolutionaries who opposed extending them suffrage as far as their assumed gender role and perceived mental capacities?

Women were conceptualized as members of families, as dependent beings, dependent on husbands, fathers, or brothers.

While the French revolutionaries didn't grant women suffrage they did give them an unprecedented amount of ________?

civil rights

in the cultural imagination and legal practice of revolutionary France women weren't considered to be __________?

Full individuals

In what ways did the French revolutionaries think women should be equal to men?

New family laws, inheritance laws, young women choosing own husbdans, divorce initiated by men, men and women given equal access to education with men and women teachers.

How were men and women thought of differently by the French revolutionaries?

There were two main reasons why suffrage was not extended to the women of France. First, in this century that was devoted to the Enlightenment principle of reason, women were not considered to be fully rational. Men were thought to be more rational and women more moral.

How did the French revolutionaries show how the language of rights, equality, and sovereignty could be used to later on argue for women's full political rights?

19th century feminists built on many of these arguments and practices. Still, French women didn't gain the vote until 1944.

Many revolutionaries thought that women could serve the revolution more effectively if _______________?

they were a moral force for patriotism in the streets or on the street