Question map
Which one of the following statements about the Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) is correct?
Explanation
Olympe de Gouges was a prominent feminist and political activist during the French Revolution. In 1791, she authored the 'Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen' as a direct response to the 1789 Declaration which excluded women from basic rights [1]. In Article 3 of her manifesto, she explicitly declared that 'The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation, which is nothing but the union of woman and man'. While she initially welcomed the Revolution, she became a fierce critic of the Jacobin government for closing women's clubs and was eventually charged with treason by the National Convention, not the National Assembly [1]. She was executed by guillotine in 1793 [1]. Her work emphasized that women are born free and remain equal to men in all rights, including eligibility for all public offices and honors based on their abilities.
Sources
- [1] India and the Contemporary World - I. History-Class IX . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 1: The French Revolution > The life of a revolutionary woman – Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) > p. 19