Economics
Police Reports on Women’s Discontent (Spring 1795)
Agitation over the shortage of bread reached a breaking point in the spring of 1795. Women played critical roles in these disturbances, as they had before the Revolution.
How a Mother Survives
Madame Ducroquet wrote to her son in the spring of 1794 about the continuing shortage of food. She expressed her worries upon reading that someone with the same name had been arrested; in fact, it was her son, who went to the guillotine only a few weeks later.
Police Reports on Disturbances over Food Supplies (February 1793)
The reports of the Paris police provide firsthand information about conditions in the city and about the leading role of women in food disturbances.
A Deputation of Women Citizens Demands Action on Food Prices (24 February 1793)
In the rioting over prices of February 1793, women appealed first to the authorities, showing that they intended to communicate directly with their representatives in the municipal government of Paris.
Women’s Participation in Riots over the Price of Sugar, February 1792
This fragment from a memoir by Charles Alexandre shows the anger of women when confronted by a sugar shortage. They readily attributed the shortage to hoarding by greedy merchants. This document also shows the new importance of colonial products such as sugar and coffee.
The Maximum
In September 1793 the Convention furthered its role as the guarantor of the basic right to subsistence of all citizens by instituting price maximums on all essential consumer goods, especially foodstuffs, and on wages paid in the production of those goods.
Decree against Profiteers
In July 1793, faced with a restive populace angered by continuing shortages of food in Paris, the Convention followed the lead of the sections in blaming the high price of bread on "profiteers" in the countryside, who were taking advantage of their fellow citizens by charging abnormally high pric
Jewish Women's Archive
The Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), a national non-profit organization, seeks to collect and promote the 'extraordinary stories of Jewish women.'New York Public Library Digital Collections
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Fadhma Amrouche was the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished, illiterate Berber peasant woman.