The Union took a moderate approach, advocating staged introduction of suffrage starting with local elections, and working with male allies in the Chamber of Deputies.

The UFSF provided a less militant and more widely acceptable alternative to the Suffrage des femmes organization of Hubertine Auclert (1848–1914).

The sole objective, as published in La Française early in 1909, was to obtain women's suffrage through legal approaches.

[1] The UFSF expanded quickly as Brunschwicg toured the provinces lecturing on feminism, and feminist school teachers organized local chapters.

[5] Louise Bodin, later to become prominent in the French Communist Party, was among the founders in March 1913 of a local UFSF group in Ille-et-Vilaine.

The UFSF strategy included collaboration with parliamentary representatives who supported women's suffrage such as Ferdinand Buisson, and a gradual process of enfranchisement that would start with votes in local elections.

[8] In response to this Senate resistance the UFSF collaborated with the more militant Louise Weiss (1893–1983) for a short time but generally remained moderate and continued to work with allies among the deputies.