He argued that natural rights should be applied to all human beings, without distinctions of gender, because in nature all persons are equal. Condorcet maintained that those who voted against the rights of others, no matter their religion, color, or sex, should forfeit their own rights. To deprive half the human race of the right to assist in the making of laws was in violation of the principle of equality of rights and an act of tyranny. Condorcet refuted that women were incapable of exercising the rights of citizenship. "Pregnancy and passing indisposition' were no more a barrier of exercising rights on the part of women that were 'gout and the common cold on the part of men' (2). It is, therefore, absurd to exclude women from rights on the grounds of alleged inferior intelligence, because huge numbers of dim-witted men would be eliminated if this principal were applied to the male race. Condorcet was the largest male advocate of women's right in the Revolution; his arguments embodied what women were striving for and his actions helped ensure a place for women in political societies and in demonstrations. .
Condorcet stood with only a handful of men on supporting women's rights, but there were numerous amounts of women who were ready and willing to speak up and demand what they deserved, most notably Olympe de Gouges. Gouges believed that the French society was corrupt and that women particularly, were victims of oppression and injustice. She maintained that women were born free and equal to men, and so being each one the "natural and inalienable" rights of liberty, property, security, must be granted to everyone, without discrimination of sex. Her devotion to achieving sexual equality resulted from her belief in the capacities women and her dedication to the principals of the Revolution. In 1788 she published a pamphlet expressing the hope that women would play a key role in the forthcoming work of national regeneration, and invited women to make financial sacrifices to help bring about political reformation.
