breaking the ice

Gouges works were both profoundly feminist and profoundly revolutionary. Author of several feminist works, her best-known work is "The Rights of Women." Taking the French Revolution's "The Right of Man" as her guide, Gouges wrote "The Rights of Women", claiming for women equality with men in all aspects of both public and private life - including the equal right along with men to vote, to hold office, to public employment, to speak in public on political topics (to "mount the rostrum"), to equal public "honors", to own and control property, to participate in the military, to an education, and to equal power in the family and the church.

The Rights of Woman
by Olympe de Gouges, 1791, english translation with links to the french original