Parliament

Abstract

Since the onset of the French Revolution, which was marked, in 1789, by the calling together of the Estates General, every government in France has recognised that it requires support from a representative body that embodies and visibly expresses the consent of a large proportion of the population. With the entrenchment of republicanism by the end of the nineteenth century, the principle, now embodied within the constitution, that national sovereignty belongs to the whole people, who exercise it through their elected representatives, was firmly established, although it was not until 1944, after a long history of struggle and debate, that women were recognised as fully forming part of the sovereign people and given the vote.