which that nation resided. However, seeing well beyond Rousseau in terms of gender, she argued that the failure of society to educate its women was the sole cause of corruption in government. Her social contract, a direct appropriation of Rousseau, proclaims that the right in marriage to equal property and parental and inheritance rights is the only way to build a society of harmony. At the time of the French Revolution, marriage was the center for political exploitation. In her Social Contract, de Gouges describes marriage as the "tomb of trust and love" and the place of "perpetual tyranny." The singly most common site of institutionalized gender inequality, marriage created the conditions for the development of women's unreliability and capacity for deception. In her Social Contract, many similarities to movements around the world become apparent. Similarly to how Mary Wollstonecraft explains marriage in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), de Gouges points to female artifice and weakness as a consequence of woman's powerless place in it. De Gouges, much like Wollstonecraft, attempts to combat societal and educational deficiencies: the vicious cycle which neglects to educate its females and then offers their narrower interests as the reason for the refusal of full citizenship. Additionally, both see the resulting fact of women’s "corruption and weak-mindedness" as a major source of the problems of society – and therein lies the solution, as well. See also The March on Versailles Women's Petition to the National Assembly References External links The Rights of Women, by Olympe De Gouges, including the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, all in English History of women's right to vote – Official French website (in English) 1791 events of the French Revolution 1791 documents Feminism and history Women's rights in France Women in the French Revolution