The Gauls. Higher status of women then in other societies in Antiquity Women went to battle Sources

Transcription

1 The Gauls Celtic societies Higher status of women then in other societies in Antiquity Women went to battle Sources Irish mythology Writers: Tacitus, Amnianus Marcellinus Archaeology The Princess of Vix, c. 530 BC

2 Crater

3 Torc

4 The Romans A patriarchal society Pater familias Head of an extended family Controlled his wife, his sons and daughters, his sons wives and children, his slaves and property Women: wives and mothers

5 The Franks Salic Law Law of the Salian Franks Women could not inherit land Interpreted as meaning that women could not accede to the throne of France

6 Frankish Homeland

7 The Middle Ages The Church Misogyny of Medieval Churchmen Woman: a temptress, an associate of the devil Woman as chattel Unequal laws Adultery

8 The XVIth century 1559 Marguerite de Navarre The Heptameron A highly educated woman Advocates reciprocity in marriage

9 The XVIIth century The Précieuses Madame de Rambouillet Mademoiselle de Scudéry Madame de Maintenon Saint-Cyr

10 The XVIIIth century 1762 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Émile Advocates respect of natural hierarchy Women s submission to men Precedence of motherhood 1783 Pierre Choderlos de Laclos De l éducation des femmes Warns against excess of knowledge

11 The 1789 Revolution August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Men are born free and equal in rights Men only include the male gender 1791 Olympe de Gouges: Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen 1793 arrested for having forgotten the virtues belonging to her sex, later executed

12 The Convention ( ) and women Classified as non-citizens together with children, the insane, minors and prisoners Forbidden from attending political assemblies Divorce on grounds of incompatibility or mutual consent Not necessarily a gain for women

13 Nineteenth Century First Empire Napoleon Bonaparte 1804 Napoleonic Code Civil Law

14 Napoleonic Code Patriarchal family Head of the family: man Controls wife s property, even wages or profits Could contest wife s right to take a job if judged against the interests of the family Chooses family domicile

15 Napoleonic Code (2) Women s civil status reduced Could not act as a witness in court or even in birth, marriage and death Children belonged to the father

16 Napoleonic Code (3) Inequality in law regarding adultery Man punished only if he maintained a mistress in the family home Woman could be imprisoned or even killed with impunity if caught in the act

17 Napoleonic Code (4) A separated woman could not sell her property without her husband s permission If a widow remarried a family council decided if she kept her children or not 1810 Abortion became a crime

18 Restoration and July Monarchy Restoration 1816 Divorce abolished : July monarchy 1833 Guizot Law organizing primary education did not include girls

19 Second Republic and Second Empire Second Republic Communities with a population of 800 were required to have a girls schools Difficulties because of lack of qualified teachers Second Empire 50 girls secondary schools established but most did not last

20 The Third Republic: education Free, open to all social classes 1880 Camille Sée Law Organization of Girls secondary schools Yet girls did not receive State baccalauréat 1880 Girls allowed to attend lectures at the Sorbonne 1924 Girls and boys programmes in secondary schools made the same

21 The Third Republic 1881, 1895 Women could open their own post-savings account and withdraw money without permission 1884 Divorce reintroduced Grounds of cruelty admissible 1907 Could control their own salary

22 The Third Republic 1917 Women could be guardians of children 1938 Women achieved legal capacity Clause of obedience to the husband in the Civil Code removed Yet husband could still object to his wife s working

23 The right to vote No success under the Third Republic Women movement more moderate than in England Both Right and Left against it Catholics: traditional view of women Fear of Church influence on women Stereotype of femininity

24 The right to vote (2) 21 April 1944 Decree of Charles de Gaulle s provisional government Women enfranchised because of their good deeds during the war Could also stand for political office Yet Napoleonic code still in effect

25 Simone de Beauvoir 1949 The Second Sex A survey of women s role though history A sociological study A new analysis One is not born a woman, one becomes one Not immediately influential in France

26 Contraception and abortion July 31, 1920 Propaganda in favour of female contraception forbidden 1923 Heavy penalties instated for performing and having abortions

27 After 1968 More radical feminism MLF Mouvement de Libération de la Femme 1974 Abortion legalized (contraception in 1967) Phasing out of single-sex schools and different examinations according to sex 1986 Right for married women to administer their own assets

28 Parity in the 1990 s Concern: lack of involvement of French women in politics Political parties shown to function as men s clubs 1995 Equal Opportunity Monitoring Unit Function: to implement parity

29 Parity (2) 1999 Revision of the Constitution Creation of laws obliging political parties to present as many women as men during elections Parties that do not present 50% women have their funding cut Party organizations in communities of more than 3500 h. must present parity lists