Lessons from French revolutionary women for our technological future
- Dr Audrey-Flore Ngomsik
- Jul 14
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 2
Once upon a time in France...
On this day, 236 years ago, the storming of the Bastille marked not just the beginning of the French Revolution, but the moment when humanity glimpsed at the possibility of redefining power itself.
Today, as we stand at the threshold of another transformative era, defined by artificial intelligence, climate crisis, and unprecedented technological capability, we must ask ourselves:
"Will we design progress that helps every community to thrive?"
or
"Will we keep making the same mistakes that destroyed our chances for real change?"
The answer lies in understanding how the women of 1789 briefly shattered the architecture of exclusion, and how Napoleon's Code methodically rebuilt it.
Their story is the blueprint for navigating our current technological transition equitably.
The amazing women who rewrote the rules
Here's where our story gets really exciting. While history books often talk about the men during the French Revolution, there were incredible women who didn't just ask to join the game,
Olympe de Gouges: The rule-rewriter
In 1791, she wrote something called the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen."
Think of it like this: the men had written a list of rights that said
"All people are equal" ,
but they really meant
"All men are equal."
Olympe looked at this and said,
"Wait a minute! If all people are equal, that includes women too!"
She didn't ask permission to be included. She announced that women were already equal and demanded everyone recognize it. It was like she stood up in the middle of the playground and said,
"These are the new rules, and they apply to everyone!"
Pauline Léon: The protector
Then there was Pauline Léon. In 1792, she marched up to the government with a petition signed by 319 women asking for the right to form their own guard and carry weapons.
"If we're all citizens, we should all have the right to protect our community."
They understood that real equality meant having a say in how society stays safe.
They didn’t just ask to join the army, they wanted to show that women could help protect the country, too.
It wasn’t just about fighting; it was about saying:
“We can be citizens and make decisions, just like men.”
The society of revolutionary republican women: The team builders
Pauline and her friend Claire Lacombe did something even more amazing. They started a club called the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women in 1793.
This wasn't just any club, it was like creating a whole new way for people to work together.
Instead of just complaining that the school system wasn't fair, they built their own student council that actually worked for everyone. They understood that you can't just fix one problem at a time, you have to look at how all the problems connect.
They understood that systemic change requires institutional innovation. They built alternative structures, created new forms of political organization, and developed frameworks for collective action that challenged both economic inequality and gendered exclusion simultaneously.
These women were practicing what we now call intersectional governance, understanding that the fight against economic oppression and the struggle for women's rights were not separate battles, but interconnected aspects of a broader transformation in how power operates.
How progress can go backwards
Here's where our story takes a sad turn.
Then came Napoleon, and with him, the masterful reconstruction of patriarchal control disguised as modernization.
Napoleon came along and pulled off one of the sneakiest tricks in history.
He was like a kid who pretends to agree with the new rules, but then slowly changes them back to benefit only himself.
The master of fake progress
Napoleon was smart.
He didn't say
"Women shouldn't have rights!"
Instead, he said things like
"Of course women are important! They're so important that they should focus on having babies and taking care of families."
He made it sound like a compliment, but it was actually a trap.
The Napoleonic Code of 1804 represents one of history's most sophisticated examples of how technological and institutional progress can be weaponized to reinforce existing hierarchies.
Napoleon understood something crucial: you don't defeat revolutionary movements by opposing them directly. You co-opt their language, absorb their innovations, and redirect their energy toward reinforcing the very systems they sought to dismantle.
His regime kept the meritocratic elements of the Revolution, for men, while systematically dismantling every legal and financial gain women had achieved.
Under Napoleon's laws:
Women lost the right to control property,
They couldn't divorce their husbands (except in extreme cases), rights they had won previously. A woman could only divorce her husband if he brought his mistress into the family home, while men could divorce women for infidelity and even imprison them.
This was the strategic reconstruction of domination using the tools of progress.
Their word in court was worth less than a man's
They were basically treated like children their whole lives.
The silencing strategy
Napoleon was especially afraid of smart women who could think for themselves. When a brilliant woman named Madame de Staël criticized his government, he didn't just ignore her, he banished her from France. It was systematic recognition that independent thinking women represented a threat to the centralized power structure he was building. His reported words to her:
"The leading lady of the world is she who makes the most children."
reveal the deeper architecture: reducing women to biological functions while men claimed the sphere of ideas and governance.
Are we making the same mistakes today?
Now, you might wonder,
"Why should I care about something that happened so long ago?"
Because we're living through a similar moment right now!
The new building blocks
Today, we face a similar moment of potential transformation. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and climate solutions offer unprecedented opportunities to restructure how human societies function. Yet we're watching the same pattern unfold: technological progress being captured by existing power structures, revolutionary potential being co-opted by traditional hierarchies.
Consider how AI governance is currently being architected. The same institutions that have historically excluded women, people of color, and Global South voices are positioning themselves as the authorities on how these technologies should be regulated and deployed.
The language is inclusive, the stated goals are equitable, but the actual decision-making structures replicate the same exclusions that led to the climate crisis, systemic inequality, and technological harm we're now trying to solve.
We're seeing the Napoleonic pattern: revolutionary tools being used to reinforce existing power structures, while the voices most capable of architecting truly transformative solutions are systematically marginalized or co-opted.
Just like Napoleon, today's leaders often use the language of fairness while keeping the old power structures in place. They'll say things like
"We care about diversity"
while making sure the most important decisions are still made by the same type of people who have always made them.
It’s like building a fancy new house but only letting the same old group decide what it looks like. The people who could bring the best new ideas are often left outside.
How do we build something better?
The women of the French Revolution show us a better way.
Real change isn’t just about letting a few new people into the old club. It’s about being brave enough to make new clubs, new rules, and new ways of sharing power.
It demands the courage to architect entirely new frameworks for how decisions are made, how resources are distributed, and how power itself operates.
We need to listen to people who have been left ou, because they know what doesn’t work, and they have ideas for what could.
The goal isn’t just to climb to the top of the old ladder. It’s to build a new ladder that everyone can use.
The people who have been left out of power aren't just victims who need help.
They're actually the ones with the best ideas for how to fix things!
Think about it like this: if you've never been allowed to play a game, you're more likely to notice when the rules are unfair. If you've had to solve problems without help, you become really good at finding creative solutions.
This is not about building a business or overcoming disadvantage. This is about recognizing that our current civilizational challenge requires the exact combination of experiences that have been systematically excluded from positions of authority: those who understand intersectional oppression, who have navigated systems designed to exclude them, and who possess the intellectual architecture to imagine genuinely alternative structures.
The question isn't whether marginalized voices can reach the highest levels of existing institutions. The question is whether we'll recognize that the highest level is being redefined by people who understand that technological progress without structural transformation is not progress at all, it's sophisticated regression.
Intersectional thinking in action
The women who stormed Versailles in 1789 understood something we're still learning: that food security, economic justice, and political representation are not separate issues but interconnected aspects of a system that must be transformed holistically.
The women of the French Revolution had something called "intersectional thinking."
That's a fancy way of saying they understood that all problems are connected.
They saw that:
Economic problems are connected to women's rights
Food shortages are connected to political power
Personal freedom is connected to community safety.
Today, we face similar connected challenges: climate change, AI governance, biotechnology regulation, global inequality, require the same integrated approach.
Climate change connects to inequality
Technology connects to fairness
Global problems connect to local solutions.
Intersectional governance means recognizing that the people most impacted by technological transitions are not stakeholders to be consulted, but architects whose expertise is essential for designing systems that work for everyone. It means understanding that sustainability is not a technical problem to be solved, but a framework for reorganizing human relationships with each other and with the planet. |
The women of 1793 built political clubs, created alternative economic structures, and developed new forms of civic participation because they understood that transformation requires institution-building, not just policy advocacy.
Today's technological transition demands the same approach: new institutions, new decision-making processes, and new frameworks for accountability that center the voices and experiences of those who have been systematically excluded.
How to built a better tomorrow?
The women of the French Revolution briefly glimpsed a world where power could be organized differently. They created new institutions, developed new frameworks for civic participation, and demonstrated that ordinary people could architect extraordinary change.
They were systematically crushed not because their ideas were wrong, but because they were too right, too threatening to existing hierarchies.
Today, we have the opportunity to complete their revolution. Not by storming physical bastilles, but by building the institutional and intellectual architecture for a world where technological progress serves human flourishing rather than reinforcing domination.
This is the work of our time: not to overcome disadvantage, but to leverage the exact combination of experiences needed to solve civilization's core challenge. The highest levelshould be redefined by people who understand that true progress requires the courage to architect entirely new systems, and the wisdom to learn from those who tried before us.
So what can we learn from these brave women? How can we avoid making the same mistakes?
1. Don't just join...Transform
The revolutionary women didn't just ask to be included in the existing system. They imagined completely new ways of organizing society. Today, we shouldn't just try to get more diverse people into old institutions, we should create new institutions that work better for everyone.
2. Build teams, not towers
Instead of trying to climb to the top of existing power structures, we should build networks of people working together. The women's clubs of 1793 were more powerful than individual leaders because they created lasting change through cooperation.
3. Connect the dots
Remember that all big problems are connected. You can't solve climate change without addressing inequality. You can't make technology fair without including diverse voices. You can't create lasting change without understanding how different challenges link together.
4. Learn from the excluded
The people who have been left out of power often have the best ideas for how to improve things. Their experiences of navigating unfair systems give them unique insights into how to build better ones.
The revolution continues
Here's the most exciting part of our story: it's not over!
We're living in a moment when we could complete what those brave women started.
We have tools they could never have imagined.
We can communicate instantly across the globe.
We can access information that was once hidden.
We can organize movements that span continents.
We can build technologies that solve ancient problems.
The question is:
Will we use these tools to build something truly new, or will we let them be captured by the same old patterns of power?
Your Part in the Story
You might think,
"I'm just one person. What can I do?"
But remember, Olympe de Gouges was just one person when she rewrote the rules.
Pauline Léon was just one person when she organized 319 women.
Every revolution starts with individuals who decide they can help build something better.
The choice is ours
The women of 1789 showed us that ordinary people can architect extraordinary change. They proved that when we have the courage to imagine new possibilities, we can briefly glimpse a world where power is organized differently.
Napoleon showed us how quickly progress can be reversed when we're not vigilant about protecting it.
Today, we get to choose which story we continue. We can build systems that create flourishing for everyone, or we can watch as new technologies become tools for the same old domination.
The revolution isn't something that happened in the past, it's something we can choose to continue today. Every time we question unfair systems, every time we include voices that have been excluded, every time we build something new instead of just fixing something old, we're continuing the work those brave women started.
The building blocks are in our hands.
The question is:
"What will we build together?"
This reflection was sparked by the recognition that French National Day commemorates not just the storming of the Bastille, but the moment when ordinary people demonstrated that power itself could be reorganized. As we face our own moment of potential transformation, we must ask whether we'll build systems that create flourishing or sophisticated forms of the same old domination.
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