Olympe de gouges biography 1789 presidential election

French playwright and activist (1746–1793)

Olympe de Gouges (French:[ɔlɛ̃pdəɡuʒ]^ⓘ; born Marie Gouze; 7 May 1748 – 3 November 1793) was a French playwright and political activist.

Olympe de gouges impact on society

She is best known for her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen and other writings on women's rights and abolitionism.

Born in southwestern France, de Gouges began her prolific career as a playwright in Paris in the 1780s.

A passionate advocate of human rights, she was one of France's earliest public opponents of slavery. Her plays and pamphlets spanned a wide variety of issues including divorce and marriage, children's rights, unemployment and social security.

In addition to her being a playwright and political activist, she was also a small time actress prior to the Revolution.^[1] De Gouges welcomed the outbreak of the French Revolution but soon became disenchanted when equal rights were not extended to women.

In 1791, in