Which of the following statement(s) is/are true for Olympe de Gouges ?

Which of the following statement(s) is/are true for Olympe de Gouges ?

  • She was one of the most important politically active woman in revolutionary France.
  • She was one of the members of the Committee that drafted the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen.
  • She wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen.

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

1 only
3 only
1 and 2
1 and 3
This question was previously asked in
UPSC NDA-1 – 2015
Statement 1: Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) was a prominent playwright, activist, and feminist during the French Revolution. She was indeed one of the most important politically active women of her time, advocating for women’s rights and abolitionism. This statement is true.
Statement 2: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was drafted by the National Assembly in 1789. Olympe de Gouges was not a member of this committee or the National Assembly. This statement is false.
Statement 3: In 1791, as a response to the 1789 Declaration which only addressed “Man” (understood at the time to exclude women from full citizenship rights), Olympe de Gouges wrote and published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, directly challenging the exclusion of women. This statement is true.
Therefore, statements 1 and 3 are true, while statement 2 is false. Option D correctly identifies statements 1 and 3 as true.
Olympe de Gouges was a key figure in early feminism, known for adapting the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality to explicitly include women through her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.
Olympe de Gouges was a Girondist sympathizer and was critical of the Jacobins. During the Reign of Terror, she was arrested, tried for sedition (particularly for her support of the deposed king and criticism of Marat), and guillotined in 1793.