Women in the Paris Commune

[5][6] The French Revolution of 1848 gave birth to some famous female figures such as Jeanne Deroin, and Pauline Roland who were however quickly forgotten, for the role they took for the Condition of women in France in 1848 [fr]).

André Léo[8] took advantage of the relative freedom promoted by the Second French Empire at the beginning to publish works dedicated to the equality of the sexes.

In 1866, she created the "Association for the Improvement of Women's Education" and in 1868, she published a text defending the equality of the sexes which was the origin of the first French feminist group.

[10] On 8 September 1870 a demonstration, led by André Léo and Louise Michel, took place in front of the Paris City Hall and demanded arms to defend themselves against the Prussian Army.

[7][5] The following month, on 7 October 1870,[11] about 150 women demanded the right to be able to care for the wounded of the 1870 war at the front and to replace the men in the ambulances.

[7] [n 1] After the siege of Paris (1870–1871) and a serious famine during the winter of 1870-1871, the French capitulation and the cease-fire on 26 January 1871, the situation seemed unbearable to the Parisians, who had resisted the enemy for nearly four months.

[14] Few of the male leaders of the Commune, with the exception of Eugène Varlin, Léo Frankel and Benoît Malon, were concerned with issues directly related to the fate of women.

[16][17] Many of the Commune's measures, however, concerned the rights of families and workers, such as the recognition of free union (the movement paid a pension to the widows of federates, married or not, as well as to their legitimate or natural children),[2][3] the prohibition of prostitution, the establishment of the beginnings of equal pay, access to education and the facilitation of divorce.

[21] For women from an educated background, political and civic equality (right to vote) were the objective in a context of class struggle.

[fr] by the Union des femmes ensured, in addition to the defense of Paris, the propagation of revolutionary ideas and the recruitment of women.

[21] The following have left traces in history: One of the first movements openly claiming to be a mass feminist movement, the Union des femmes pour la défense de Paris et les soins aux blessés (Union of Women for the Defense of Paris and the Care of the Wounded) was created on 11 April 1871,[12] in a café on rue du Temple [fr] by Nathalie Lemel and Élisabeth Dmitrieff.

[12] In their minds, the work of the Union des femmes added to that of the International since the domination of men over women was one of the elements of the class struggle.

[3] The influence of the Union des femmes grew throughout the Commune, from organizing meetings and training in nursing to arming women and forcing the enlistment of men for the defense of Paris.

[33] The society Éducation Nouvelle, made up of women teachers, asked the government of the Commune to establish a secular, compulsory, free school for all.

Marguerite Lachaise [fr] and Elizabeth Dmitrieff also took part, leading 140 women of the Union des femmes to the rue Blanche barricade.

[16] Pétroleuse was a term used to describe a woman accused of having used petroleum to start fires during the crushing of the Paris Commune by the Versaillais.

[37][44] The term was applied, especially after the burning of the Paris City Hall (24 May 1871), to women who had taken part in the armed struggle, making them the scapegoats for the vandalism that occurred during the semaine sanglante.

[43] The marchers were turned back before they reached Versailles,[46] but the marches presaged the creation of the Union des femmes on 11 April 1871.

[55] Very often, the military authorities always tried to prove either their sexual immorality[55] (concubine, prostitute, lesbian according to the terms and the gradation in place[26]) or the fact that they were thieves, hysterical or criminals.

[57] Eugène Schulkind considers that "it is remarkable that this group of women realized better from the beginning, the importance of a revolutionary theory as a weapon and of a strong organization as a means of realization, than most of the members, even of the Commune".

[58] Paul Lidsky, a specialist in anti-Communard writings by artists and intellectuals from the French elite, indicated that the women of the Commune were the target of particular violence.