Conclusion: The Legacy of Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges emerges as a combative woman who did not hesitate to challenge men and their authority to claim her rights. Her approach was both bold and strategic.

Highlight: Gouges' attack on male dominance was fierce, utilizing both polemic and satirical registers to criticize and even ridicule men's unfounded superiority.

Despite the intensity of her critique, Gouges constructed her arguments with the rigor of an Enlightenment thinker. Living in an era of scientific advancement, she cleverly employed the argument of nature to support her case for equality.

Example: Gouges' rewriting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen demonstrates her advocacy for collaboration and equality between the sexes, arguing that this would lead to happiness for all.

The revolutionary period did bring some rights to women, such as the right to divorce. However, the revolutionaries never granted women the right to vote, a fundamental right that French women would only obtain after World War II (1939-1945).

Quote: "The country of human rights will be one of the last European countries to grant these rights to women."

This statement underscores the irony that France, often hailed as the birthplace of human rights, lagged behind many of its European counterparts in granting full citizenship rights to women.

Definition: Les droits de la femme - The rights of women, a concept that Olympe de Gouges championed through her writings and activism, particularly in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen.

Olympe de Gouges' work laid the foundation for future feminist movements and continues to inspire the ongoing struggle for gender equality worldwide. Her courage in challenging the status quo and her visionary ideas about women's rights were far ahead of her time, making her a pivotal figure in the history of feminism and human rights.