Olympe de Gouges (1755-1793) was a French writer, feminist and moderate revolutionary. A regular at Parisian salons, she embraced Enlightenment political views while advocating for the rights of women.
Born Marie Gouze in southern France, de Gouges was the daughter of a semi-literate butcher. Noted for her beauty, at the age of 16 de Gouges was forced into an arranged marriage with a much older man. She loathed this situation but escaped from it a year later when her husband died.
In 1770, de Gouges moved to Paris, where she indulged her passions for writing and political discussion, attending several notable salons and mixing with the likes of Jacques Brissot and Marquis Condorcet.
De Gouges’ own politics were moderate, reformist and feminist. She supported a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic, wanted no harm to come to the king and, above all, she sought improvements in the rights and conditions of women. She is best known for a political pamphlet titled Declaration of the Rights of Woman, a feminist polemic released in September 1791.
She later criticised the National Convention for its failure to lead and facilitate public debate, a move that brought her to the attention of Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety. Considered an annoyance to the state rather than an explicit threat, de Gouges was arrested in July 1793 and sent to trial. She was eventually guillotined in November 1793.
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