The French Revolution in Women's History

Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women's History, by Marilyn Yalom, presents the views of women who took part in the revolution. What makes the book special is that Yalom lets the women speak for themselves in their own words, from dozens of preserved accounts. Their personal histories record their own role in that revolution. We learn the essential roles of women in the transformation of France at the end of the eighteenth century, and we learn that women were treated unequally by men who led the revolution, despite women's many minor and major contributions.

At the same time, most importantly, the accounts and Yalom's interpretations make clear that women were hardly passive victims of male manipulations during the revolution, but took active roles in both advancing it and protesting its injustices.

Rebel Daughters: Women and the French Revolution, edited by Sara E. Melzer and Leslie W. Rabine, takes an interdisciplinary approach to the roles of women in the revolution. The sixteen contributors reveal that women's participation in the revolution cut across class lines and was based on both practical and idealistic considerations. Male leaders of the revolution took advantage of female participants, using their contributions but denying them equal status. The editors make clear that their purpose is to advance feminist and critical theory in relation to the subject at hand. Specifically, the various articles have been selected in order to illuminate the nature of ge

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its fulfillment. Women were, therefore, cast into the difficult and paradoxical role of first throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the revolution, being betrayed by the revolution, and then fighting against the anti-woman thrust of the revolution: In order to seek inclusion within [the Revolution's] community, women had to rebel against that community and its ideology. Or, to put the matter another way: In order to win rights and freedoms, women had to, and still must, rebel against a revolution that ultimately rejected and excluded them, but they could, and can, justify and articulate their claims only by virtue of the principles established by that revolution. After establishing the historical context of women's role in the revolution, Melzer and Rabine introduce the themes and perspectives of their contributing essayists. There is, however, a general theme which all of the essayists touch upon to some extent. The editors write that the essays "demonstrate that gender is not an external, supplementary category, but a founding category of modern politics, culture, and ideology." The editors are clear that their work is aimed at the scholarly rather than the nonprofessional reader. Their work is necessarily less acces

Category: History - T