| Declaration of rights- Man | Declaration of Rights- Woman |
| The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen: | Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who poses the question; you will not deprive her of that right at least. Tell me, what gives you sovereign empire to opress my sex? Your strength? Your talents? Observe the Creator in his wisdom; survey in all her grandeur that nature with whom you seem to want to be in harmony, and give me, if you dare, an exampl of this tyrannical empire. Go back to animals, consult the elements, study plants, finally glance at all the modifications of organic matter, and surrender to the evidence when I offer you the menas; search, probe, and distinguish, if you can, the sexes in the administration of nature. Everywhere you will find them mingled; everywhere they cooperate in harmonious tpgetherness in this immortal masterpiece.
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen Preamble |
| 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good | 1. Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be based only on the common utility. |
| 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. | 2. The purpose of any political association is the conservation of the natural and impresciptible rights of woman and man; these rights are liberty property, security, and especially resistance to oppression |
| 3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. | 3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially with the nation, which is nothing but the union of woman and man; no body and no individual can exercise any authority which does not come expressly from it (the nation). |
| 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which
injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man
has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society
the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by
law. |
4. Liberty and justice consist of restoring all that belongs to others; thus, the only limits on the exercise of the natural rights of woman are perpetual male tyranny; these limits are to be reformed by the laws of nature and reason. |
| 5.Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society.
Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may
be forced to do anything not provided for by law. |
5.Laws of nature and reason proscibe all acts harmful to society; everything which is not prohibited by these wise and divine laws cannot be prevented, and no one can be constrained to do what they do not command. |
| 6.Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen
has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in
its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.
All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible
to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according
to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues
and talents. |
6.The law must be the expression of the general will; all female and male citizens must contribute either personally or through their representatives to its formation; it must be the same for all: male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and public employment according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents. |
| 7.No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except
in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting,
transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order,
shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the
law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense. |
7.No woman is an exception; she is accused, arrested, and detained in cases determined by law. Women, like men, obey this rigorous law. |
| 8.The law shall provide for such punishments only as are
strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except
it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before
the commission of the offense. |
8.The law must establish only those penalties that are strictly and obviously necessary... |
| 9.As all persons are held innocent until they shall have
been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness
not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be severely
repressed by law. |
9. Once any woman is declared guilty, complete rigor is exercised by law. |
| 10.No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions,
including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb
the public order established by law. |
10.No one is to be disquieted for his very basic opinions; woman has the right to mount the scaffold; she must equally have the right to mount the rostrum, provided that her demonstrations do not disturb the legally established public order. |
| 11.The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of
the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly,
speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such
abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. |
11.The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of woman, since that liberty assures recognition of children by their fathers. Any female citizen thus may say freely, I am the mother of a child which belongs to you, without being forced by a barbarous prejudice to hide the truth; (an exception may be made) to respond to the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by law. |
| 12.The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be intrusted. | 12.The gaurantee of the rights of woman and the female citizen
implies a major benefit; this guarantee must be instituted for the advantage
of all, and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it is entrusted. |
| 13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means. | 13. For the support of the public force and the expenses of administration, the contributions of woman and man are equal; she shares all the duties and all the painful tasks; therefore, whe must have the same share in the distribution of positions, employment, offices, honors, and jobs. |
| 14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally
or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution;
to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion,
the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes. |
14. Female and male citizens have the right to verify, either by themselves of through their representatives, the necessity of the public contribution. This can only apply to women if they are granted an equal share, not only of wealth, but also of public administration, and in the determination of the proportion, the base, the collection, and the duration of the tax. |
| 15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration. | 15. The collectivity of women, joined for tax purposes to the aggregate of men, has the right to demand an accounting of his administration from any public agent. |
| 16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all. | 16. No society has a constitution without the guarantee of rights and the separation of powers; the constitution is null if the majority of individuals comprising the nation have not cooperated in drafting it. |
| 17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no
one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined,
shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall
have been previously and equitably indemnified. |
17.Property belongs to both sexes whether united or separate;
for each it is an inviolable and sacred right' no one can be deprived of
it, since it is the true patrimony of natire, unless the legally determined
public need obviously dictates it, and then only with a just and prior
indemnity.
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| Postscript Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition, and lies. The flame of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has multiplied his strength and needs recourse to yours to break his chains. Having become free, he has become unjust to his companion. Oh, women, women! When will you cease to be blind? What advantage have you received from the Revolution? A more pronounced scorn, a more marked disdain. In the centuries of corruption you ruled only over the weakness of men. The reclamation of your patrimony, based on the wise decrees of nature-what have you to dread from such a fine undertaking? The bon mot of the legislator of the marriage of Cana? Do you fear that our French legislators, correctors of that morality, long ensnared by political practices now out of date, will only say again to you: women, what is there in common between you and us? Everything, you will have to answer. If they persist in their weakness in putting this non sequitur in contradiction to their principles, courageously oppose the force of reason to the empty pretentions of superiority; unite yourselves beneath the standards of philosophy; deploy all the energy of your character, and you will soon see these haughty men, not groveling at your feet as servile adorers, but proud to share with you the treasures of the Supreme Being. Regardless of what barriers confront you, it is in your power to free yourselves; you have only to want to.... Marriage is the tomb of trust and love. The married woman can with impunity give bastards to her husband, and also give them the wealth which does not belong to them. The woman who is unmarried has only one feeble right; ancient and inhuman laws refuse to her for her children the right to the name and the wealth of their father; no new laws have been made in this matter. If it is considered a paradox and an impossibility on my part to try to give my sex an honorable and just consistency, I leave it to men to attain glory for dealing with this matter; but while we wait, the way can be prepared through national education, the restoration of morals, and conjugal conventions. |