Response to Jordan on Declarations

To answer Jordan Scott's last question: I do think that women were not considered smart enough to know that they were committing a crime because in De Gouges' seventh article, she mentions that women should not be exempt from any punishment just as men are, so she is arguing that women have the same knowledge of crimes that men do, and for that reason, women should be held accountable to the same extent. This means that the other declaration assumed that women were unequal regarding to crimes. In addition, De Gouges mentions in article thirteen that women should be expected to contribute to public force and taxation as much as men insofar as they have the same amount of wealth as men do. This assumes that women have an unequal position in society, so the laws could not be directly pertinent to men and women. So, it is possible that just as there was an inequality in wealth, there was an considered inequality pertaining to the mental capacity of the two sexes. So, just as women were not wealthy enough to pay the same in taxes, they were probably not smart enough to be punished for crimes.