Pétition des Femmes du Tiers-Etat au Roi

[Petition of Women of the Third Estate to the King]
8-page pamphlet, under paper wrappers.

“Sire, At a time when the different orders of the state are occupied with their interests; when everyone seeks to make the most of his titles and rights; when some anxiously recall the centuries of servitude and anarchy, while others make every effort to shake off the last links that still bind them to the imperious remains of feudalism; women—continual objects of the admiration and scorn of men—could they not also make their voices heard midst this general agitation?”

A very rare letter of grievance from the women of the Third Estate addressed to Louis XVI, expressing their deep apprehensions a few months before the outbreak of the French Revolution.
They begin by painting a picture of the miserable condition of 18th-century women: neglected education, determinism based on physical beauty, prostitution, parents' disdain for their female offspring... before suggesting reforms: free schools for women, economic autonomy by prohibiting men from exercising "trades that are the prerogative of women", abolition of prostitution.
This claim ends with a commendable but perhaps ironic paragraph: “We ask to take leave of ignorance, to give our children a sound and reasonable education so as to make of them subjects worthy of serving you. We will teach them to cherish the beautiful name of Frenchmen; we will transmit to them the love we have for Your Majesty. For we are certainly willing to leave valor and genius to men, but we will always challenge them over the dangerous and precious gift of sensibility; we defy them to love you better than we do. They run to Versailles, most of them for their interests, while we, Sire, go to see you there, and when with difficulty and with pounding hearts, we can gaze for an instance upon your August Person, tears flow from our eyes. The idea of Majesty, of the Sovereign, vanishes, and we see in you only a tender Father, for whom we would give our lives a thousand times”
This precious document is one of the very few bearing witness to women's concerns of their place and role in this time of ferment and change within French society.
“In the Pétition des femmes du tiers état au roi, an anonymous text dated January 1, 1789, women called for the right to education and work [...]. Over the course of 1789, a few women writers made their voices heard in letters, brochures, libels and petitions sent to the Assembly. Women appeared on the political scene on a massive scale, taking part in the first riots that broke out in the summer of 1788 and the spring of 1789. They had always played a major role in frenzied revolts, but this time the context was different, and, like men, they were sensitive to political issues. After the opening of the Estates General on May 5, 1789, women appeared in the streets as well as in the galleries of the Salle du Jeu de Paume in Versailles, or in the gardens of the Palais-Royal in Paris, to listen to the predominantly male speakers. On July 14, 1789, when the Bastille was stormed, several accounts confirm that women fought alongside the men.” (Femmes et République, 2021)
Translations from The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, translated, edited, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt, 1996, 60–63.