This book provides a challenging discussion of the factors which made French political culture so profoundly sexist and in particular, it shows that many of the myths about progress and emancipation associated with modernisation and the coming of mass politics do not stand up to close scrutiny. It also reveals the surprising conservative nature of the republican left and of the ingrained belief throughout French society that women should remain within the domestic sphere. James McMillan considers the role played by French men and women in the politics, culture and society of their country throughout the 1800s.
Part 1 1789-1815 - the origins of the "Women Question": women under the
"Ancien Regime"; the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the rights of
women; the subjection of women. Part 2 1815-1880 - class, culture and the
politics of gender: "Woman by the hearth"; women and religion; labouring
women; the struggle for sex equality. Part 3 1880-1914 - the emergence of a
"New Woman": new women - image and reality; the feminist challenge,
1880-1914; continuities.
