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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.
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