The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen - Olympe de Gouges

[Heavily adjusted for brevity and reading level by James Couture. Text in square brackets added by Couture. 3/9/2001]

The following articles were written by Olympe de Gouges. She took the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and rewrote it to what she believed it should be to represent the interests of women. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen did not give women any say in government and gave men power over them in many ways.

Words to know before you start: distinctions, establish, oppression, restoring, sovereignty, virtues.

The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen

1. Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be based only on what is useful to society.

2. The purpose of politics is the preservation of the natural and undeniable rights of woman and man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and, especially, resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially with the nation, which is nothing but the union of woman and man. Nobody and no individual can exercise any power unless the nation [the people] says they can.

4. Liberty and justice consist of restoring all that belongs to others. Thus, the only limits on the natural rights of woman are those placed by never-ending male tyranny. These limits are to be reformed by the laws of nature and reason.

5. Laws of nature and reason make illegal all acts harmful to society. Everything which is not prohibited by these wise and divine laws cannot be prevented. No one can be forced to do something that the natural laws do not require.

6. The law must be the expression of the general will [of all the people taken together]. All female and male citizens must contribute either personally or through their representatives to the creation of the general will. There is only one general will. Male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and government jobs according to their ability and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents.

7. No woman is an exception. She is accused, arrested, and detained in cases determined by law. Women, like men, obey the same strict laws.

8. The law must establish only those penalties that are strictly and obviously necessary...

9. Once any woman is declared guilty of a crime, she must be punished strictly by the laws.

10. No one is to be bothered on account of his very basic opinions. Woman has the right to mount the scaffold [to be hung for a crime]. She must equally have the right to mount the podium, provided that her speeches do not disturb the legally established public order.

13. For the support of the police and army and the expenses of government, women and men already pay equal taxes. She shares all the duties and all the painful tasks. Therefore, she must have the same share in the distribution of positions of power, honors, and jobs.

16. No society has a constitution without the guarantee of rights and the separation of powers. The constitution is pointless if the majority of the nation's citizens have not cooperated in creating it.

17. Property belongs to both sexes whether they are together or not. For each it is an unavoidable and sacred right. No one can be deprived of their property… unless the legally determined public need obviously requires it. And even then, property can be taken only with a fair payment from the government.

Less crucial articles from the document:

11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of woman, since that freedom assures recognition of children by their fathers. Any female citizen thus may say freely, I am the mother of a child which belongs to you [some man], without being forced by a primitive prejudice to hide the truth...

12. The guarantee of the rights of woman and the female citizen implies a major benefit. This guarantee must be instituted for the advantage of all, and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it is entrusted.

14. Female and male citizens have the right to vote, either by themselves of through their representatives, the necessity and level of taxes. This can only apply to women if they are granted an equal share, not only of wealth, but also of public administration, and in the determination of the proportion, the base, the collection, and the duration of the tax.

15. The whole group of the nation's women, joined for tax purposes to the sum of all the men, has the right to demand an accounting of his administration from any government worker.