Q3 Blog #4

For this outside reading which was about gender roles I read Declaration of the Rights of Women by Olympe de Gouge written 1791, during the enlightenment. It was a response to Declaration of the Rights of Man written during the same time. An obvious reason for the response was of course the obvious wording of Man. The author did actually mean these rights were mostly just for men. De Gouge called for reform to Rousseau's idea of "separate spheres" for men and women, which was widely excepted. This idea said that the only area in which women were superior or even equal was emotion. De Gouge of course had reason to complain, for as is now accepted women are equal in all aspects to men. One right that De Gouge calls for is the right to divorce your husband. A right that had been previously denied, and was causing many women to be shackled to abusive husbands. The gender roles of the enlightenment were clearly very different from that of ours today.

"De Gouge, Olympe." Modern History Sourcebook. February 10 2009. August 1997.