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Most women of the third estate had to work for a living. They
worked as seamstresses or laundresses, sold flowers, fruits and
vegetables at the market, or were employed as domestic servants in the
houses of prosperous people. Most women did not have access to
education or job training. Working women had also to care for their
families, that is, cook, fetch water, queue up for bread and look after the
children. Their wages were lower than those of men. In order to discuss
and voice their interests women started their own political clubs and
newspapers. About sixty women’s clubs came up in different French
cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the
most famous of them. One of their main demands was that women enjoy
the same political rights as men.
In the early years, the revolutionary government did introduce
laws that helped improve the lives of women. Together with the creation
of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls. Their
fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will.
Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and registered
under civil law. Divorce was made legal, and could be applied for by
both women and men. Women could now train for jobs, could become
artists or run small businesses.
Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued.
During the Reign of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering
closure of women’s clubs and banning their political activities. Many
prominent women were arrested and a number of them executed.
Women’s movements for voting rights and equal wages continued
through the next two hundred years in many countries of the world. The
fight for the vote was carried out through an international suffrage
movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The
example of the political activities of French women during the
revolutionary years was kept alive as an inspiring memory. It was finally
in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote.