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Sultan Mohamed

26 September 2022

Professor Bisson

Women in the Age of Revolution

During this period of Enlightenment and revolution, there was a lot of change. We finally see a

shift of lands being ruled by monarchs to lands ruled in other ways. This shift in the rule is primarily

focused on giving power to the people and not allowing the elite to have it all. The idea of popular

sovereignty rose and fast forward to now, most states in the world are sovereign states. But during this

time of change, women were not given any attention. The idea that all men are free is only limited to

men, and women do not end up with the same rights as the other gender. Many women have spoken

against it and the rest of this essay will go into more detail on some articles, female concerns for the

future, and what they would want to change.

Some pages in Bentley’s Traditions and Encounters book give us a general understanding of

what the female population was going through during a time of revolution and change. In many places,

women had no access to education, they could not enter a professional field without an advanced

degree, and they had no right to vote. English writer Mary Astell looked at the influence of

Enlightenment and why is it a thing that men were born free, while women were born slaves (Bentley

609). The writers of each of the articles below believe in the same idea of men being born with better

rights than women.

The first article in this essay focuses on Abagail Adams, and her “Remember the Ladies” letter to

her husband, John Adams. She had written this letter during a period of war, and she urged him to

remember the ladies. She mentioned the idea that men having unlimited power would make them
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tyrants, something to be afraid of. Men treated the other gender as vassals of sex, instead of actual

beings (Adams 1). In Abagail’s husband’s response, he does not seem to take this too seriously. He

disagreed, saying that his wife should depend on the masculinity of men (Adams 2). The demands

Abagail asks for are simple because you take the ability of powerful men to have, women are no

different from the enslaved. Clearly, she cannot be taken too seriously if according to her, her husband

does not respond to her nearly as often as she does (Adams 1). It is important to remember that during

this time of war, almost everybody was helping in the effort, and that included women. Throughout this

revolution, Abagail wants her husband to remember the ladies and the services they have done to help

the colonies.

Olympe de Gouge was a French woman, who was an advocate for slavery and women’s rights. In

her article, the Declaration of the Rights of Women, she attacks the people who neglect women during

the French Revolution and basically calls it out as a failure for that. She specifically says that the neglect

was the sole cause of public misfortune. Olympe was clearly concerned that during a period of change,

women were not a part of the change, and they did not improve in their social and political status. She

specifically lists seventeen demands be the rights of women and the “citizeness” (De Gouge 1). The first

demand she makes is, “Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights. Social distinctions may

be based only on common utility” (De Gouge 1). She goes on to list other demands like liberty, property,

security, and basically, all rights men have (De Gouge 1). She even focuses on the marital aspects of

society and improving on that for women. De Gouge put her ideal of a social contract, not necessarily a

marriage contract; the two that would sign this contract would be bound together for life, even after

divorce. She puts an emphasis on the belongings of the two later belonging to children and the

importance of that in the future. She had written how young women would be easily slayed by men, and

later abandoned after age, so something like this would not allow these women who leave their families

for a man to be left alone (De Gouge 4)

The final article is by Mary Wollstonecraft, another advocate of women’s rights, and her text,

the Vindication of the Rights of Women. Like the other women, Wollstonecraft was arguing that the

rights men receive should be given to women as well. She blamed the discrimination of women and

readings of the past since they were all written by men. All these books greatly influence the world and

their neglect and discrimination against women are being spread like they are lessons. Like Abagail

Adams, Wollstonecraft wrote that women are only for inspiring love when they could do so much more;

they are not people to just lust over. It does not help that men are generally stronger than women,

giving them an even greater sense of superiority over their other gender (Wollstonecraft 1). She tells

women to gain more strength, physically, and mentally; growing as women will eventually lead men to

realize their weak understandings (Wollstonecraft 2). One big thing Mary wants for women is a better

education. In her letter to M. Talleyrand-Perigord, she argued that more advanced education for females

would give them more independence. It would even allow them to be better wives and mothers and

contribute more to society (Wollstonecraft 3).

Despite the Enlightenment period featuring revolutions and bringing more power to the people,

those powers were not for all people, especially women. Many women have spoken up against the issue

through their writings; Abagail Adams wrote to her husband to “remember the ladies” that are helping

men with the war and allow them to have a voice. Olympe de Gouge pointed out the neglect of women

going on during the French revolution and listed seventeen demands for the improvement of female

societal and political life. Mary Wollstonecraft highlighted the past discrimination of women in books

and its influence. Women should have all the rights men have, including the ability to seek advanced

education. Despite their failures to bring women equal rights, their writings helped a later generation

that succeeded in getting women better education and an opportunity to vote. Nowadays, with the

equal rights of men and women in most countries, we have to thank the people who fought for these

rights long ago.