Did the French revolution and the Bolshevik revolution each improve Essay

Did the French revolution and the Bolshevik revolution each improve the lives of the Women - Essay Example The women were only defined by sex their and not by their innate capability and ambitions. Even though the Enlightenment writers seemed to advocate for women liberation, they had a limited scope; there was nothing like public rights. This essay shall critically evaluate various facets of both French Revolution and Bolshevik Revolution in an attempt to establish whether they really improved the lives of women. Years before the onset of Bolshevik Revolution, women had no voice in the Soviet Union. The women were treated as inferior sex that had no right to participate in any public event. In fact, most of them were left for peasantry jobs and house chores. The industrial jobs were preserved for men. Women would come from the farm and attend to her household at home. In France, the perception of women was not very far from that in Russia. The Enlightenment writers gave men more powers over women, just like John Locke had formulated. Rousseau, for instance, insisted on the traditional roles of women. He stated that women should limit their participation to family level. He discouraged any active participation of women in public and political events. Most women in France were, thus, peasants, laundresses and shopkeepers1. There was also no formal education for this gender. Education was only for few men who belonged to the middle and upper classes. A woman needed not to be educated, as claimed the chauvinists. Her work was to educate the girl child. The lack of formal education limited the chances of women securing job opportunities in some service industries. In France, Rousseau had argued that if a woman was to obtain any form of education, the knowledge should only be used to manage the family and not in any public offices. The arguments of Rousseau raise questions about his reasoning, him being a learned person. How can such a great scholar be in support of oppression? The French Revolution that began in 1790 was marred with