Before the revolution and the advent of feminism in France, women's official role in society consisted of providing heirs for their husbands and tending to household duties.
However, with the emergence of ideas such as liberté, égalité, and fraternité, the women of France joined their voices to the chaos of the early revolution.
Scientists, doctors, and people of related professions stated that those with compacted skulls could not practice or follow the sciences (Nature's Body 7).
"The honorable members of the National Assembly, coming to understand that the women were absolutely committed to persist until there was something definite for always, accorded to our twelve deputies.
[6] Léon requested permission be granted to women to arm themselves with pikes, pistols, sabers, and rifles, as well as the privilege of drilling under the French Guards.
[8] On June 20 of 1792, a number of armed women took part in a procession that "passed through the halls of the Legislative Assembly, into the Tuileries Gardens, and then through the King's residence.
"[13] In 1791, Olympe de Gouges published a vital document of the Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.
She addressed her declaration to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, pleading with her to "work for the restoration of morals, to give to your sex all the credit it is due.
"[14] While this document did not have extensive social repercussions within France during the time of the Revolution, de Gouges revealed the depths of misogynistic culture by the reaction to her work.
Following her publication, she was tried as having "royalist tendencies", further evidenced by her political pamphlets and discovery of her half-written play, La France sauvée ou le tyran détrondé.
"[14] The most radical militant feminist activism was practiced by the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women which was founded by Léon and her colleague Claire Lacombe on May 10, 1793.
He believed that women were not as capable as men in war because of the differences in body structure, physique, and the need to take a leave of absence when their child is born.
Théroigne de Méricourt was arrested, publicly flogged and then spent the rest of her life sentenced to an insane asylum.
While little progress was made toward gender equality during the Revolution, the activism of French women and protofeminists was bold and particularly significant in Paris.
Though French culture during the time of the Revolution was largely misogynistic, leading women such as Madame Roland, Olympe de Gouges, and Charlotte Corday went against the traditional roles of gender and fought the mindset of a woman as passive, uneducated, and politically ignorant.