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Human rights not ‘rights of man’
Campaigners are promoting a new version of France’s famous declaration of rights to include women properly
A MALE feminist group wants to get mairies and schools everywhere to put up a new, improved, version of the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, because they say the original one left women out.
The 1789 version was one of the founding documents of the French Revolution and is still considered constitutional today – it also inspired the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However women’s rights and anti-prostitution group Zéromacho says in a statement: “The famous declaration was voted by MPs who were all men, for the sole benefit of men. It applies neither to women nor slaves.”
They have redrafted it and adjusted the way it is presented visually – so that, notably, instead of a female figure on the left representing monarchy, there is Michelangelo’s Adam, chosen as a representative man. He is holding out a spirit level towards the winged female figure on the right, representing liberty, in a symbol of equality.
The text has also been rewritten, and the document is renamed Déclaration des Droits Humains, des Citoyennes et des Citoyens.
The group says: “Zéromacho suggests that all people and those in charge of institutions wanting to promote the values of the Republic should make this image known and from now on refer to ‘human rights’.”
The original image is common, but not obligatory, in public buildings, and Zéromacho hope bodies will use theirs instead.
They say the campaign is supported by rights watchdog the Haut Conseil à l’Egalité entre les femmes et les hommes and they have had their text checked by language and history lecturers.
