Women’s Rights and Femininity in the French Revolution (1789-1794)

Despite the French Revolution marking the beginning of the organized involvement of women in both political and more complex social spheres, the history of women and gender during that period remains a barely-explored subject, even within the renowned French historical circles. It was only since the 1970s that the protests and demands for improvement in the aspect of women’s rights have prompted politicaldiscussions in the West, inspiring historians to revisit and finally try to answer the female revolutionary question. The article aims to analyze the path that women’s rights undertook in France during the Revolution of 1789. By looking at the evolving historiography of the era, the article will answer the questions of how and to what extent social and political female freedoms improved during those years and how the Revolution of 1789 changed the cultural understanding of femininity. To accurately present the realities of everyday female life at that time, it shall also be necessary to make a few references to the ancient regime period that preceded the Revolution, as well as to the later times of the Directory’s and the Empire’s rules, with the emphasis on the Code Napoléon and what its appliance meant for 19th-centuryfemale rights.