Home › Culture › What's On › Conferences › Olympe De Gouges Cycle
Olympe de Gouges Cycle
Women of Power and Women of Action: Reflections on the Role of Women in a Changing World
Inspiring Encounters with Exceptional Women
The year 2025 commemorates the 80th anniversary of women's first vote in France, which took place on April 29, 1945. In tribute to Olympe de Gouges, pioneer of women's rights, this cycle celebrates remarkable feminine journeys at the crossroads of science, arts, and civic engagement. From September 29 to October 24, the French Institute invites you to meet three women with unique voices as they share with us their worldview, their profession, their creativity, and their struggles.
Claudie Haigneré – Scientist & Astronaut
Round Table at IFC | Monday, September 29th at 6pm (In French, translated in Khmer)
The first French woman in space, Claudie Haigneré has pushed the boundaries of the sky and knowledge. A doctor, researcher, and former
minister, she embodies a unique dialogue between exploration, knowledge, and transmission.
Marion Rampal – Singer & Composer
Concert at Raffles | Wednesday, October 15th at 8pm
A free voice of the music scene, Marion Rampal explores the connections between jazz, poetry, popular music, and memory. She creates a
sensitive universe where the intimate meets the political.
Dalila Belaza – Choreographer and Performer
Contemporary Dance | Performance presented Friday, October 24th
Through movement, Dalila Belaza questions identity, heritage, the sacred, and the invisible. Her choreographic work is a constant quest for a
body language that is both refined and powerful.
Cross-disciplinary encounters between science, arts, and society, carried by speech, experience, and the power of the feminine.
The Olympe de Gouges cycle is presented by the French Institute of Cambodia as part of Nuit des Idées 2025 (Night of Ideas 2025), a global cultural event organized by French Institutes around the world on the theme "Power to Act," inviting reflection on the capacity to transform the world and respond to contemporary challenges.
Why Olympe de Gouges? Author of numerous novels and plays, revolutionary heroine, considered one of the first French
feminists, she was also a resolute opponent of the slavery system. Her most famous political writing is the Declaration of the Rights of
Woman and the Female Citizen (September 1791), a true feminist manifesto addressed to Marie-Antoinette. Taking the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen as her model, she affirmed that "woman is born and remains equal to man in rights" (Article 1).