Women’s Struggle for Rights in Historical 
             Perspective
  • Free development of the individual is the core idea in 
   liberalism. But in view of existence of different strands within 
   liberalism different ways are prescribed to achieve this 
   fundamental goal.
  • Despite development of feminist ideas very early in history it 
   was only the publication of Mary’s phenomenal work in 1792 
   that it got systematic and theoretical expression. However, such 
   ideas became popular only with the ‘first wave of feminism’ in 
   the 1840s and 1850s.
  • The French Revolution in 1789 had a deep impact on almost all 
   aspects of social and political life. So not only did the rights of 
   the common man become important but rights of the 
   minorities, slaves and women too became a matter of 
   discussion.
   The French Revolution and Women’s March 
            on Versailles
  • Although the French Revolution did not have much impact on 
   women’s rights women who participated in the Revolution did 
   have a profound impact on feminism and women’s rights.
  • Women’s March on Versailles, women’s political clubs and 
   their pamphlets, and some of the politically popular figures 
   greatly influenced the perception about the women and the way 
   they were viewed in society.
  • Women were confined to the domestic sphere and were not 
   given an opportunity to participate in the public sphere. They 
   were considered as less rational and hence not capable of taking 
   decisions in public life.
  • French Enlightenment thinker Rousseau too shared the similar 
   view and believed that women had no role in politics.
    The French Revolution…(contd.)
  • By 1787 women started bringing out brochures that reflected 
   and argued in favour of the rights of women in the fields of 
   education, employment opportunities and marriage rights.
  • Consequently, the consciousness regarding economic and sexual 
   rights generated during the French Revolution was meant to 
   become an important starting point for all future feminist 
   struggles.
  • The March on Versailles on October 5, 1789 was the first major 
   event that marked the role of women in politics . It was a result 
   of the deteriorating economic condition of the country which 
   led to an unexpected increase in the bread prices and 
   extremely low wage rates because of which poor, working class 
   women faced great difficulties in fulfilling even the basic needs of 
   their families.
           March on Versailles
   • As a result some of the women took part in riots that were 
    triggered against low wages. But despite such riots there was 
    no food and soon Paris began to starve.
   • In the March on Versailles, women put bread on pikes and 
    marched from Paris to Versailles. In this march men too 
    followed women and they captured the king and brought him 
    with his family to Paris to have a look at the condition of people 
    there.
   • This turned out to be a major game-changer for women as it 
    proved that they too could effectively participate in the cause 
    and that women were not a politically irrelevant class. So it also 
    demonstrated that men and women could work as equals when 
    they were committed to bring about positive changes in society.
     Post-French Revolution and Women’s 
         Engagement in Politics
  • By 1790, when France had began to function under a representative 
  government, women reformed their ways of struggle and started 
  to engage in politics in a different way.
  • They formed political clubs or became part of different clubs, 
  which were till then an arena only for men. These clubs now with 
  women members came up in different places which showed that 
  women all over were now getting conscious of their rights and 
  political significance.
  • Gradually women and men from these clubs began filing petitions 
  in the National Assembly advocating women’s equal right to 
  education and reform in martial laws. Women also came forward 
  to assert their sexual rights and went on to form dual-gender clubs 
  where men and women participated equally in discussion about 
  politics.