In 1793, the woman of letters Olympe de Gouges and the author of the Declaration of the Rights of Women (1791), was threatened in her home on rue Saint-Honoré. Her monarchist opinions were considered to be more and more controversial during this time of civil war. She then discretely moved into the apartment owned by her servant Justine Thomas and the printer Longuet, located on the rue de Harlay. There, she wrote her political testament: a text in which she took a stand against the repression being doled out to opponents of the regime. However, the neighborhood around the Revolutionary Tribunal was very well monitored. On July 20th, she was arrested in front of the gates of the courthouse. She was executed on the following November 3rd, becoming, much later, a heroine of the first feminists.
The Declaration of the Rights of Women, a manifesto for the equality of the sexes
In September 1791, Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Women and Female Citizens. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Male Citizens was falsely universal, the author claimed, who then stated that women must have the same rights as those of men, specifically the right to vote. However, most radical revolutionary women did not make this a priority: first they requested the right to equal inheritance, divorce and an education.
“Declaration of the Rights of Women and Female Citizens,” The Journal général de la cour et de la ville, October 1, 1791
