Olympe de Gouges was the most important fighter for women's rights you've never heard of.

An activist and writer in revolutionary Paris, she published 'The Declaration of the Rights of Women' in 1791, and was beheaded two years later, her articulate demands for equality proving too much for their time.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, the key statements of her declaration were internationally endorsed by the United Nations in its Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which in turn went on to be legally recognized by nearly every country in the world.

This volume presents both of these key texts along with enlightening and inspiring commentary from a host of powerful women, from Virginia Woolf to Hillary Clinton.

Olympe de Gouges was a French feminist and activist during the French Revolution, a time of great change and yet such things were still radical. Her text, The Declaration of the Rights of Women and of the Female Citizen was written in response to the French constitution of 1791 to address the key issues for women's rights that it had failed to cover. Over 200 years later and Gouges's arguments still remain relevant today.