Writer who demanded women’s civil and political rights
She demanded abolition of slavery and the death penalty, and her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman claimed voting rights and legal equality for women. The Revolutionary Tribunal condemned her to death in 1793.
Born Marie Gouze, she was a French playwright and political writer. She criticized slavery and in her 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen demanded legal equality, public speech and political participation for women. The declaration challenged exclusions in existing declarations; it was not enacted legislation. She opposed revolutionary violence and the power of the Montagnards, and was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed in 1793.
Also known as: Marie Gouze
Activities and affiliations
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1780–1793
Literature and arts
Career Timeline
- 1765Married Louis-Yves Aubry, a caterer in Montauban, in a marriage the chronology describes as forced
- 1766Her son Pierre Aubry was born; after her husband's death soon after, she took the name Olympe de Gouges
- 1770Moved to Paris, completed her education, and frequented literary salons
- 1784Published the autobiographical 'Mémoire de Madame de Valmont'
- 1785Her slavery-critical play 'Zamore et Mirza' entered the Comédie française repertoire but was not performed
- 1788Published 'Lettre au peuple', advocating free expression, divorce, sex equality, and abolition of slavery and the death penalty
- 1789Intervened in the revolutionary debates with posters and pamphlets
- 1791Published 'Les Droits de la femme' containing the Declaration of the Rights of Woman; the Legislative Assembly refused to examine it
- 1792After the fall of the monarchy she joined the moderate Girondins, opposed the Terror, and attacked Robespierre
- 1793Imprisoned in July for writings considered counter-revolutionary; the Revolutionary Tribunal condemned her to death in November
Related historical events
Writing against exclusions in declarations of rights
De Gouges’s declaration of 1791 borrowed the language and form of the Declaration of the Rights of Man to ask whether the rights of “man” and “citizen” actually applied to women. It demanded, in particular, women’s participation in making law directly or through representatives and equal access to public office. It was not a constitution recording rights already secured for women; it was a political intervention exposing exclusions within revolutionary universalism.
Her activity was not limited to women’s rights. She criticised colonial slavery and entered public controversy through plays and pamphlets. Yet the space for speech during the Revolution was not equally open. Her trial and execution in 1793 occurred amid particular writings and political conflicts, and should not be reduced to a simple punishment for one demand for women’s rights. The declaration nevertheless remains a durable source for asking who was included in rights, representation, and citizenship.