Marie Gouze more famously known as Olympe de Gouges was a political activist and her feministic views had a major affect on the world. She lived in the France in the 18th century, and life was far from simple in that time period. She was born in the South of France into a low class family, this meant she did not have an easy childhood. Pre the French Revolution (1789) there was much social inequality in France and there were only two social classes; upper and lower. As you can imagine, women had minimal to no rights, whether they were a member of nobility or simply a peasant.

Political tension was rising in France due to the poor leadership of Louis XVI. Poor leadership in addition to the Enlightenment views of the masses ( which were anti a king ruling over the masses and having complete power) were two main causes of the French Revolution. Olympe decided to get married at the young age of 18 to a man she says ” I did not love”. Her husband passed away one year into the marriage and she moved to Paris. In Paris she found a wealthy man and they lived together. This man Jacques had many colleagues who were writers and politicians and Olympe used this to her advantage. Olympe was extremely frustrated about the lack of equality and chose to do something about it. In 1791 Olympe joined the “Social Club” which was a group of leading feminists in France who met weekly to try to improve women’s rights.  Amidst the French Revolution in 1791 she published her famous work ” The Declaration of the Rights of Woman”. Unfortunately, she was arrested in 1793 and eventually put to death via the guillotine.This was essentially a response to to the ” Declaration of the Rights of Man” which was published a year before. Olympe takes the 17 articles of the ” Declaration of the Rights of Man” and makes the text applicable for women. For example, the first original article was 1. ” Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”. Olympe’s first article states ” WOMEN is born free and remains equal to man in rights.” She changed other articles but it notably known for making the version “woman friendly”. The argument in the publication is hopefully clear to you after you have read this post. Women deserve the same rights as men. Obviously, this is a strong argument as half of the world is female and there is no reason as to why they should not have the same rights and ability to act as they choose just like men. I thought the preamble was the strongest and most powerful portion of this piece. It begins with “Mothers, daughters, sisters, representatives of the nation, demand to be constituted into national assembly…”  The word demand drew my attention while reading this, and I went back and read that sentence a few more times before moving on. The word demand shows that Olympe was not saying women should or want rights, she purposely used the word demand to show we will get those rights it is not up for discussion. After reading this preamble I was struck with awe. Honestly, I  can not find any flaws in her argument. The only weak part of her story is that her life was taken from her. She did an excellent job, as it is clear to the reader what she wants. Her argument is supported with detailed examples as to why she is correct and If I was living in France in the 18th century I would surely side with her.

Has progress been made is a very vague question. Of course, there has been positive movement towards women’s rights in the United States and through out the entire world. France has members of the government who are female as does the United States. Olympe de Gouges probably could not have dreamed or imagined that French women could have the rights that they currently have in 2015. Officially, there is no gender discrimination in either country but if you look at the statistics there still is. For example, more women graduate college per year than men, so why do women who are employed in the same field as men only earn 77 cents per dollar that a male earns? Why??? The truth is to be told. Hopefully, our children will not have the same question to ask.