Explain the conditions of women in France before and after the revolution

Explain the conditions of women in France before and after the revolution

Ans.

Conditions of women before French Revolution:

(i) Most women of the Third Estate had to work for a living. They worked as seamstresses or laundresses, sold flowers, fruits and vegetables at the market, or were employed as domestic servants in the houses of prosperous people. 

(ii) Most women did not have access to education or job training. Only daughters of nobles of wealthier members of the third estate could study at a convent.

(iii) Working women had also to care for their families, that is, cook, fetch water, queue up for bread, and look after the children.

(iv) Their wages were lower than those of men.

(v) In order to discuss and voice their interests, women started their own political clubs and newspapers. About 60 women’s clubs came up in different French cities.

Condition of women after the French Revolution:

(i) Women were disappointed that the Constitution of 1791 reduced them to passive citizens. They demanded the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly, and to hold a political office.

(ii) In the early years, the revolutionary government did introduce laws that helped improve the lives of women. Together with the creation of the state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls.

(iii) Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely, and registered under the civil law.

(iv) Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued. During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities.

(v) Many prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.

(vi) It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.