La Femme libre

La Femme libre (The free woman) is the first title of a French newspaper published in 1832 by Marie-Reine Guindorf and Jeanne Desirée Véret Gay.

It underlines the originality of this publication by indicating it will be written and published by women, and by only including the first names of a founder and a director.

There was a single article, titled "Appel aux femmes" (Call to women), organized into three parts, each signed with a first name.

After pleading the place of women, she makes a link with the Saint-Simonian movement and Barthélemy-Prosper Enfantin, "Nous sommes libres et égales à l'homme ; un homme puissant et juste l'a proclamé, et il est compris de beaucoup qui le suivent" (We are free and equal to man; a mighty and righteous man has proclaimed it, and it is understood by many who follow him.)

To end this first issue of La Femme Libre, a postscript specifies the exclusively feminine character of the publication by excluding the possibility of an article written by a man.