On the basis of two texts taken from their dramatic works, the author of the article questions "gender and genre" such as negotiated by Staël and Burney in the context of their plays. Burney's tragedy's Elberta articulates a transformation or even downright inversion of gender roles, while Staël^s playlet or "dramatic proverb" Le Mannequin makes fun of arranged marriages and French cultural imperialism together by relying on a comic and absurd mode.