Born May 7, 1748 in Montauban,Olympe de Gouges, pseudonym ofMarie gouze, married nameMarie Aubry, was a French social reformer and writer who challenged views on a number of issues, especially the role of women as citizens.
The mother ofMarieAnne Olympe Mouisset Gouze, was married to Pierre Gouze, a butcher; the biological father ofMarieit could have been Jean-Jacques Lefranc (or Le Franc), Marquis de Pompignan.Marieshe married at 16 and was the mother of a son, but the marriage was short-lived. When her husband died,Mariechanged his name toOlympe de Gouges, she moved to Paris and vowed never to marry again.
She was actively involved in political causes and addressed social issues ranging from road improvement to divorce, maternity care, and the rights of orphaned children and single mothers, and wrote prolifically in defense of her ideas. Among his works wasL’Esclavage des noirs(“The slavery of blacks”), which was performed at the Théâtre-Français. In 1791, while the French Revolution was continuing, he published the pamphletDeclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne(“Declaration of the rights of women and citizens”) as a response to the Declaration of the rights of men and citizens (Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen), which had been adopted two years earlier by the National Assembly. In her brochure, she stated not only that women have the same rights as men, but also that children born out of wedlock should be treated, in matters of inheritance, with the same impartiality as “legitimate” children.
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