Jeanne Deroin

For her required statement of her belief in their principles, she wrote a 44-page essay, in part inspired by Olympe de Gouges' 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, in which Deroin argued against the idea that women were inferior to men, and likened marriage to slavery.

They began publishing La Femme libre, the first newspaper for women in France,[1] for which she wrote under the pseudonym "Jeanne Victoire".

[1] Deroin was a prominent figure during the Revolutions of 1848, campaigning on the rights of women and against the exploitation of children and harsh treatment of convicts.

[2] With other Fourierist women such as Pauline Roland, Eugenie Niboyet and Desirée Gay, she launched a socialist feminist newspaper and club, the Voix des Femmes.

[2] Politique des Femmes soon found itself unable to raise a 5,000 franc security bond required by the government.

[1] She wrote to groups including the National Women's Rights Convention in Massachusetts and the Sheffield Female Political Association, giving advice on tactics.

Although she remained in London, she kept up a correspondence with socialist feminists and women's suffrage campaigners in France, such as Léon Richer, Madame Arnaud and Hubertine Auclert.

Jeanne Deroin in 1890.
Deroin features as the central character in The Uprising (L'Emeute) by Honoré Daumier . [ 3 ]
Jeanne Deroin lifted on the shoulders of women of different classes, holding a chalice that reads, “Suffrage Universal des Femmes” (“Universal Women’s Suffrage”)