“The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of woman and man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and especially resistance to oppression.”
The preface of this reading portion explained that Marie Gouze was a self educated female who became a voice in the French Revolution by expanding reform to include women. She wrote her pamphlet to Marie Antoinette but also included warning. She mentioned that if there was no support of the movement, there was a chance that French royalty itself would become a thing of the past by force. In the preamble of her declaration she believes most of the turmoil in her country can be linked to neglecting of rights of women and not just men. She believes that a just government is in a position and is called to safeguard the rights of its citizens.
Her belief echoes a similar statement in the Declaration of Independence of the United States instead of France. The writers of that document went further by saying that a government that fails to do so gives its citizens the right to overthrow it in favor of a new one. Marie in her pamphlet extends these rights that should be protected to include security and resistance to oppression in her words. She also fights for equal opportunity by arguing there shouldn’t be discrimination in the work force by women having the ability to pursue equal employment as men.