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Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen

Olympe de Gouges · 1791

Olympe de Gouges's 1791 rewriting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, demanding equal rights for women.

Her most famous written work, directly rewriting the 1789 Declaration to demand equal rights for women.

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Printed page of the 1791 Declaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne, with the title in large capitals, a subtitle addressed to the National Assembly, and the opening Preambule paragraphs in French text.
Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, 1791.

About this source

What it is

Written by Olympe de Gouges and published in September 1791, this document rewrites the articles of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man to apply them to women. It was dedicated to Queen Marie Antoinette.

Why it matters

It shows that de Gouges saw the Revolution's promise of 'universal' rights as incomplete, since women were excluded from citizenship and voting. The text argued that if women could be punished by the state, they should also share its rights — including the famous line about the right to mount the scaffold and the rostrum. It stands as one of the earliest clear statements of feminist political thought from the Revolution.

Look closer

  • How closely does the wording follow the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man?
  • Why might de Gouges have dedicated it to the Queen?
  • What does the preamble say caused 'public misfortunes'?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Painted allegory of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. A title plaque reads 'Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen' above two tablets of text. A seated woman with chains and a standing winged figure with a wand flank the plaque, under a radiant eye in a triangle.Document

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

National Constituent Assembly · 1789

Printed broadside titled 'Les Trois Urnes, ou le Salut de la Patrie, par un Voyageur Aérien' in large capitals on an orange-tinted page, with dense multi-column French text below the title.Document

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Les Trois Urnes, ou le Salut de la Patrie, par un voyageur aérien

Olympe de Gouges · 1793

Pastel-style portrait of a woman with powdered grey hair piled high, wearing a white shawl, against a dark brown and grey background. She has a slight smile and looks toward the viewer.Painting

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Portrait of Olympe de Gouges

Alexander Kucharsky

Title page scan of the 1793 French text 'Testament politique d'Olympe de Gouges', printed in serif type with a decorative rule above and below the title. The opening paragraph begins with 'O divine providence!' and is partly faded and smudged.Document

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Testament politique d'Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges · June 1793

Decorative printed border ornament in a rectangular frame: a central fleur-de-lis inside a sunburst of radiating lines, flanked by swags of foliage and scrolling acanthus leaves. Appears to be a page ornament from an 18th-century printed book.Document

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Remarques patriotiques

Olympe de Gouges · 1789

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