Examining Women’s Literacy Rates Before, During, and After the French Revolution

The datasets underlying this network analysis were generated through searches of the Early Modern Letters Online database. View the dataset on men corresponding with women as a CSV here; on women corresponding with men as a CSV here; and women corresponding with women as a CSV here.

As a history minor, my primary focus has been early modern and modern Europe. In the duration of my coursework, I have found that the French Revolution serves as a key ideological shift for Europe to evolve into what we know it as today. As the French decide to re-write their government, they harness the ideals of the Enlightenment and inspire many other European nations to do the same. What uniquely enthralls me about this era is the cultural shift of becoming French subjects to French citizens; although women were not included in this dialogue, I aspired to examine their literacy rates in the 20 years leading up to the French Revolution.

The research question that I believe my dataset answers is as follows: Did the incoming threat of the French Revolution have a significant effect on the literacy rates of French women? After analyzing this dataset, I would argue the answer is undoubtedly yes. Thirty-six out of the fifty-two letters are sent between 1771 and 1777. Yet, in the 10 years before the revolution (1778-1789), the dataset indicates only 16 letters sent by or to women. As the threat of revolution approaches, we see the effort of women’s literacy being swept to the sidelines in an increasingly male dominated era. In a universe centered upon the aspiration of man achieving Enlightenment, women’s intellectual betterment is swept aside. The largest dataset within my exploration is men writing letters to noblewomen, and though it provides insight into women’s literary capabilities, it still further demonstrates the cultural bias to put men at the center of the conversation.

This dataset ultimately indicates that women did play a significant role within the Republic of Letters. Though women’s literacy rates seemingly declined in this era, the women who made the conscious decision to continue to write are unique trailblazers for the spread of globablization of the Republic. Even if they are not consciously aware that their efforts are in the pursuit of both connection and literacy, their implicit participation generates a more global means of connection.

Visualizing this dataset helps us to better understand which communities were most important to the spread of the Republic of Letters. In this research, Paris seems to be the intellectual hub for French literate women, likely due to a large amount of tutors and wealthy people who want to increase their intellect. This situation largely defines women as a significant intellectual power pre-revolution, and uniquely identifies how they generated a sense of community in an ever-changing existence. Though this dataset offers little insight into the spread of religious knowledge, we see the emergence of literacy for important women in history. This dataset includes letters sent to both Marie Antoinette and Catherine the Great, which indicates a European cultural shift to understanding the power of knowledge. Translating these relationships into a visual medium helps us understand as modern historians how interconnected early modern Europe truly was, and how the spread of knowledge is largely impacted by cultural events.