ght alongside men in urban revolutionary activities. It was the job of women to buy food for the family, and when they became unable to do this, the situation became intolerable. For Bourgeois women there were many changes. Marriages that had been arranged in the past became more of a romantic relationship as well as economic. Mothers stayed at home and cared for their children more. Female education and the intellectual pursuits of females became more accepted and common. Although Men were more likely to be literate than women were, more than one quarter of French women could read at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and toward the end of the century that number had doubled. Now that women began to read more a vast number of books were available to them such as; some teach-yourself books, fanciful romances, and books of moral instruction. With the increase of female literacy, the overall rates of literary also increased as women began to teach children to read. As a result the leisure time of bourgeois women increased greatly and more entertainment and literature were available to them.
             Domestic life also began to change. In the past, marriages had been based on economic partnership and a means to carry on lineage. Husbands still ruled over their wives and made all of the family decisions. Even in the middle of the eighteenth century, the "rule of thumb" was passed; it said that a husband could legally beat his wife as long as the stick was no thicker than his thumb. During the second half of the eighteenth century, all of this began to change. Although economic elements of marriage were still very much a factor, many other elements came into play. A new desire for individual happiness, romantic and sexual attraction developed into a factor in marriage. Courting became a more common occurrence as prospective partners could dance, dine, and converse with each other to determine compatibility. Young people were ...