Part1
My name is Jacque-Arouet, a 23-year-old Caucasian female in Paris married to Rogner Arouet. We have two children: a boy and a girl. My two children attend a nearby dame school. Even though the society doesn’t esteem women education, I will educate my girl in order for her to have the benefits of an educated woman like me. I have no political affiliation but highly support the women rights organizations. I have a high social status in the society since am a respected member of the nearby women activist group that champions for equal leadership and civil rights as the men.
Part II
The role of women is changing at a fast rate. The rate is so fast that only the literate class of men and women are realizing it. Enlightened men like Marquis de Condorcet and Jean-jacques Rousseau have already realized the unexplored mine of educating women and have foresee the great impact and revolution that literate women will cause upon accepting their forming roles. To that effect, I fully support Marquis de Condorcet’s argument “it would be difficult to prove that women are incapable of exercising the rights of citizenship”.
Argument1; Elimination of traditional roles
First, the role of the woman is revolutionizing. Away from the traditional roles of the woman as a caregiver and homemakers, the role of the educated woman is defining the social and political spheres in the country. Women all over the globe have immense factory experience and industry skills. They have corporately joined trade and worker unions as the first step towards empowerment. Traditionally the women are expected to remain at home, give birth and raise children, Due to socially humiliating norms, women do not have claim to land ownership and are regarded as ‘lesser citizens’ in the face of men. They are married off at a tender age and have to abide under the care of their husbands who often mistreat them. It is culturally unacceptable for widows to remain husbandless for a long period and they are often married as quick as possible to avoid social stigma (National women’s history museum)
However, the revolutionary war and the French revolution have brought new changes to the roles of women in America and France. Women were employed as clothe makers in factories and industries. They formed women’s organizations to champion for better pay and safe working conditions. In other words, women have developed a voice of their own. Women have acquired a new role as industrial workers with equal rights of good wages like their male counterparts. In the revolution, the role of the woman is indispensable. She acts as a messenger for the patriotic army, worker in the industry to make clothes for the soldiers and acts a newsagent in publishing stories and news about occurring events.
Counter argument; Even though women have taken new definitive roles, the common perception that women are weak, meek and lack strong personalities still linger in the social and economic circles.
Argument; Women are effective in leadership
Earlier Women were supposed to remain under the care of their husbands and could not take leadership roles. Olympe de Gouges appearance in the national assembly a couple of years back to champion for gender quality showed that women possess the courage and motivation to take up leadership roles and will acts as agents of change in the future. In her writing The declaration of the rights of woman, she sought to address and contended the issues of gender equality and division in the French constitution. The law had drawn a clear separation between the roles of men and women, the rich and the poor and according to her; these issues were discriminatory against women. Women formed a bigger population of the poor. Jean–Jacques Rousseau in his Social contract wrote, “"Each of us puts in common his person and his whole power under the supreme direction of the general will” (Merrick Whitcomb). He advocated for the creation of a social regulatory force/body, which protects the people from their own selfish inclinations. That force may be an organization or the government.
She also addressed the issue of non-equality between men and women. Voltaire in his Understanding of Inequality says, “All men have the right to think themselves entirely equal to other men” as he questions and explores inequality and the negative social conditions (François-Marie Arouet). Unfortunately, Men were viewed as the stronger, more intelligent and aggressive sex. In her book, she gave equal rights to women according to the constitution as rights for men. Clearly, she portrayed an exemplary image of women leadership that the society needs to accept. Women have proved their stand that they are no longer timid and submissive but have innate abilities that make them leaders even in a society where they are not recognized as so.
Charlotte Corday was another female activitist who actively participated in the politics of the French revolution. She supported the Girondins faction that championed to the education o the whole society that included women. She died because of her relentless political inclination against Jean Paul Marat after killing the latter.
Counter argument; although women have gained a new definite role, no effective changes have been made to common law to allow women equal leadership and political roles. Representation in the national assembly has not occurred.
REFERENCES
- François-Marie Arouet, Dictionnaire philosophique (London [Nancy], 1765), 157–60.
- Merrick Whitcomb, ed., Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, vole .6. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania History Department, 1899), 14–16.
- National women’s history museum. 1700s Colonial Education.2007. Retrieved from www.nwhm.org/html/exhibits/education/1700s_htm
