“The Rights of Woman” by Olympus De Gouges was written in 1791, as a revision for “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.” During this time period, men had all the power in society. Men owned all the property, and were the only ones allowed to do public speaking. In response to this, De Gouges decided to revise all the articles, by including women in them. Her argument was, women and men are equal, women shall obey the laws like men do, women shall have the same rights as men do, and women can do public speaking like men do.

The author, Olympus De Gouges, was the daughter of Marie Gouzes, and Olympe de Gouges. Olympus De Gouges was a playwright and a Persian intellectual. She had written many political writings expressing her ideas, such as abolition of slavery, and the rights of orphans and unwed mothers. During the early 1700s, woman weren’t seen as equals, they were hired to work in factories for low wages, and they couldn’t own anything. In response to all of this, De Gouges published “The Rights of Woman,” which ultimately led to her being beheaded at the guillotines.

The main point of this piece was, women should be able to born free from any discriminations and should be seen as equals of men. Women should be able to have the same obligations as men do, and obey the same written laws. If men can own property, or have free communication of thought and opinion, then women shall too.

The postambule written at the end of the piece was really strong. It was a wakeup call to all women telling them they should come out and say something and put an end to all of this. It asked, “O women! Women, when will you cease to be blind? What are the benefits that you reaped from the revolution?” (De Gouges, 27) The answer to this was nothing; there were no benefits from the revolution, and there was no telling when women would step up and call for changes. The fact that the piece was so radical was the weakness to it. It led to De Gouges’ death, which could’ve dissuaded other women to step up and fight for women’s rights because they would fear of the same outcome.

This piece ended up to be successful in conveying its message because in the late 1800s, the Seneca Falls convention established women’s rights.

Looking back, this piece has definitely made a huge impact on history. If it wasn’t for this piece, there would be no women’s rights, and all those faces and voices we know and love from television, newspaper and radio would not be heard from. If women were not treated equally as men, we wouldn’t have women running for president, or any position in the government. Women would not be able to go to school, or become successful in their fields of interest.