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Salons were gatherings in the streets of Paris that were led by wives. These meetings started before the Revolution and were not held often. But when they were held, people in these meetings talked about political things and diplomacy. The women who led these meetings were also known as "Salonnieres". -
When the revolution started, many Women wanted equality, and all women from all backgrounds stood up for this. This gave Olympe the motivation to stand up and this lead to her writing a book called "Reflections on Black Men". In this piece she talked about abolishing slavery and how men had all the power. -
When the French Revolution started, men were in control. Women were considered lower in power compared to men. Many got mistreated and could not do things men could. -
At this time, the Declaration of the Rights of Man had just been written and passed, but Olympe didn't think it was right. The Declaration only gave rights to men over 25 who paid taxes, and you see, Olympe didn't meet that criteria because she was a woman. Olympe decided to write her own Declaration. The declaration was almost identical, but now included women in it. She was hated by everyone, and it did not get passed on. -
When the Revolution started, there were women on both the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary sides. The revolutionary women, they made organized groups and helped support the revolution. While the counter-revolutionary women made assassination plans and waged war, and those who didn't support them. Also, these counter- revolutionary women protested and started riots. -
Food shortages became a problem in 1789, and women decided to do something about it. Soon, there was a large group of women from Paris marching 12 miles to the Palace of Versailles, where the King and his family were. When arriving at the Palace, 2 guards who tried to stop them were killed. This led the king to agree with what the women wanted and move to Paris, where he would have less control, and the people would gain power. -
Though women were not considered slaves, they still had very little power, and some were treated like slaves. Women could not vote, carry a firearm, or even serve in the military. They were considered citizens without citizenship since they were considered citizens, but had the same amount of power as a non-citizen would have. -
As the revolution continued, prices for food skyrocketed, and women were furious about it. Many women were almost dying and had to put in extra hours just to keep their kids from starving. Women decided that they were going to raid shops for food and also encourage other men to seize goods and later on sell them for a fair price. -
Even though women did not have that much power, it would only get worse for them when the Reign of Terror started. Since many women decided to fight for their rights, many got executed when the Reign of Terror started. One of these women was Olympe de Gouges because of her political power. Many other women, just like Olympe, got executed on the Guillotine. -
In 1793, the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women was established in Paris. This was a political club that wanted to educate more women on political issues and help them express their views to politically powerful men. The club was not made for women to get more powe,r but instead to make more women active in politics, and so that they had their own opinions.