The orthography of French was already more or less fixed and, from a phonological point of view, outdated when its lexicography developed in the late 17th century and the Académie française was mandated to establish an “official” prescriptive norm.
Still, there was already much debate at the time opposing the tenets of a traditional, etymological orthography, and those of a reformed, phonological transcription of the language … the Académie chose to adhere firmly to the tradition “that distinguishes men of letters from ignoramuses and simple women” in the first edition of its dictionary.