She left the country and joined her aunt in Turkey, where she taught French to the children of the commercial bourgeoisie.

[1] Victor Hugo wrote her a supportive letter on 17 September 1872 urging her to keep fighting and saying all honorable people admired her.

[1] The secretary of the Fédération Française des Sociétés Féministes, Aline Valette, founded the weekly tabloid L'Harmonie sociale which first appeared on 15 October 1892.

Marie Bonnevial was in contact with many other masons, including Gabriel Persigoud in Bordeaux, with whom she campaigned for creation of a teachers' union.

[1] In 1893 she was elected delegate to the national secretariat of the Fédération des Bourses du Travail (Federation of Workers' Councils).

She was deeply involved in the Conseil national des femmes françaises (CNFF - National Council of French Women) and the Ligue française pour le droit des femmes (LFDF - French league for women's rights).