To the guillotine! In popular representations of the French Revolution, women appear prominently: as its aristocratic and religious victims; as the allegorical symbols of Liberty and the Republic; and as the elderly knitters whose bloodthirsty cries encouraged the executioners. This Revolution's enduring legacy promoted universal human rights. Yet no republican franchise in 18th and 19th century France acknowledged women's rights to political participation. Why was that? Why did French women acquire the right to vote only in 1944? And why, nearly 60 years later, was a law passed requiring gender equality among France's elected representatives? Suggests ways in which these issues may be addressed, by considering a variety of approaches to the history of women, gender and politics in modern France.