author
Olympe de Gouges
1748–1793
A bold voice of the French Revolution, she wrote fiercely about women’s rights, freedom, and justice when doing so could be deadly. Her most famous work, the 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, still feels strikingly modern.
1 Audiobook
Les droits de la femme
by Olympe de Gouges
About the author
Born Marie Gouze in Montauban, France, Olympe de Gouges became a playwright, pamphleteer, and political activist in Paris. She wrote on a wide range of public issues, including marriage, divorce, poverty, slavery, and the rights of women, using clear, direct language meant to stir debate.
She is best remembered for her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, a powerful answer to revolutionary claims of liberty that left women out. In it, she argued that women should enjoy the same civil and political rights as men, which is why many readers now see her as an early feminist voice.
De Gouges also opposed slavery and continued to publish political writings during the most dangerous years of the French Revolution. In 1793, after criticizing powerful revolutionary leaders, she was executed in Paris. Her life was cut short, but her writing has endured as a vivid defense of equality and human dignity.