Other 20th Century Feminists

Benoîte Groult

Benoîte Groult is a French feminist writer.  Born in 1920, she was raised in Paris.  She studied literature until 1953 and went on to a career as a journalist.  Groult has published at least seven books.  Most deal with feminist issues such as misogyny and discrimination of women.  Groult has also written about the history of feminism.  One of her novels, Les vaisseaux du cœur, inspired the a 1992 film by Andrew Birkin called The Salt on Our Skin.  Groult's novels have a role in feminism.  They explore how fictional women choose to handle the feminist issues that appear in the novels and may influence Groult's audience.

Françoise Giroud

Françoise Giroud was a French writer, journalist, screenwriter, and politician.  She was born in Switzerland in 1916 to immigrant Jewish Turkish parents.  Giroud began working in cinema in the 1930s and went on to a career in screenwriting.  She wrote about thirty books during her life and was a journalist.  She was the editor of Elle magazine and L'Express, a magazine that she co-founded.  In the 1970s she began to become involved in French politics.  One of her goals was to "get France out of its rut", this goal was inspired by her visits to America after World War II.  One of the positions she held was Minister of Culture.  Giroud had experience in many different occupations.  I think her influence in popular French magazines really helped her express her ideas for her country.  She seems to have been a well loved female icon in France.

Julia Kristeva

Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist.  Kristeva was born in 1941 and moved to France in the 1960s.  After publishing her first book, Semeiotikè, in 1969, she became very influential as a critical analyst of cultural theory and as a feminist writer.  Kristeva is a leading French feminist like Simone de Beauvoir.  Some of her ideas are controversial even to feminists.  I am do not feel that Kristeva is super heroic, but her writings and ideas are certainly important.  She brings up new thoughts about feminism and challenges feminist ideas, probably to keep other feminists thinking about what they believe is important for women today and women in the future.

Click these links for more on these women!

Julia Kristeva Wikipedia

Françoise Giroud Wikipedia

Benoîte Groult Wikipedia

20th Century Feminists - Simone Veil

Simone Veil was a French lawyer and Politician born in 1927.  Some of her most prestigious roles in politics include: Minister of Health, President of the European Parliament, and member of the Constitutional Council of France.  Veil was born to Jewish parents in Nice, France.  In 1944, her family was deported by Nazis to Auschwitz.  All of her family members, except for her sister Milou, died in concentration camps.  After the liberation of the concentration camp, Veil returned to France and resumed her studies.  At the University of Paris she met her husband, Antoine Veil.  At the beginning of her career, she worked as an attorney for the Ministry of Justice.  From 1974 - 1979, she was the Minister of Health.  The legislation she focused on helped pass laws that made access to contraception easier and led to the legalization of abortion in France.  One of her achievements was when she became the first female president for the European Parliament.

Simone's achievements in the political arena are very heroic.  She was successful in an often male dominated area of society, which I think other women can admire about her.  She is a feminist heroine for passing legislation that many feminists support.

Click these links for more on Simone Veil!

Simone Veil Wikipedia

20th Century Feminists - Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a French author, existentialist philosopher, political activist, and feminist born in 1908.  When she was young, her father was said to have boasted that "Simone [thought] like a man!".  In 1929, Simone and Jean-Paul Sarte became a couple.  Sarte asked Beauvoir to marry him, but she refused and they became life partners.  Beauvoir also had many lovers, male and female, during her life.  One of Beauvoir's most well known and important works is The Second Sex.  The book is considered a major work of feminist philosophy.  Beauvoir and Sarte were both editors for a political journal called Les Temps Modernes, which began being published at the end of World War II.  Beauvoir was active in the French women's liberation movement in the 1970s and even signed the Manifesto of the 343 (a list of women who claimed to have had an abortion, abortion was illegal at the time).  Beauvoir died in 1986 at the age of 78 in Paris.

Simone de Beauvoir was certainly an influential woman during her time.  She was an important intellectual, prolific writer, and avid activist.  Her works came about at a time when women were beginning to organize and push for reforms that they believed were beneficial for women.  I think it would be interesting to know what would have happened with out Beauvoir's book, The Second Sex, which many feminists today are inspired by.  Beauvoir may be considered a feminist heroine for igniting new ideas about the female identity.

Click these links for more on Simone de Beauvoir!

Simone de Beauvoir Wikipedia

Simone de Beauvoir - Why I am a Feminist

Heroines of World War II - Maryse Bastié

Maryse Bastié is known for being the first French woman to cross the South Atlantic Ocean on a solo flight.  Maryse was born in 1898 into a poor French family.  Her father died when she was eleven so she had to start working to provide for her family.  She worked in a shoe factory in her youth and had an unsuccessful early marriage that left her with child and little money.  Maryse married a World War I pilot, who introduced her to the power of flight.  She became very passionate about flight, earning her pilot's license and hoping to buy her own plane.  After her husband died in 1926 in an airplane accident, Maryse began performing aerobatics to earn a living.  In 1927, she earned enough to buy her first plane, a Caudron C.109 (Maryse piloted a women's duration record of 26 hours and 47 minutes long flight in her C.109 in 1929).

A Caudron C.109 aircraft

By 1935 Maryse opened her flying school at the Orly Airport.  She served in the French Air Force during World War II, logging over 3,000 hours in the air, and earning the title Captain.  Among a few of her awards are the Harmon Trophy, which she received in 1931, and the honor of being named a commander of the Legion of Honor.  In 1952, Maryse died in a airplane accident.  As she was taking off, her plane crashed on the airfield.  She was buried in Paris.

Maryse Bastié was a hero for future female aviators.  She was as passionate about serving her country as other leading male aviators during the war.  I was kind of surprised at how involved women during tis time were involved in aviation.  Maryse seems very similar to Amelia Earhart, who was also very influential in aviation.

Visit these links for more on Maryse Bastié!

Maryse Bastié wikipedia

Maryse Bastié takes to the Air

Heroines of World War II - Lucie Aubrac

Lucie at age 90

Lucie Aubrac was really a remarkable woman.  She was quite literally a hero, as a member of the French Resistance, for her country, but she was also a hero for her family.  Lucie Aubrac was born in 1912.  In 1939, Lucie married Raymond Samuel, a young jewish man.  At the onset of World War II, Lucie and her husband were in danger.  Jews were being persecuted in France and this anti-Semitism forced the Samuel's to adopt the last name Aubrac.  When France fell to the Germans, Lucie and Raymond assisted in forming the Liberation South resistance group.  This branch of the French resistance published an underground newspaper, Libération.  On June 21st 1943, Raymond and another important member of the Resistance, Jean Moulin, were captured by the Gestapo.

At the time of her husband's capture, Lucie was pregnant with her second child.  Lucky for the Aubracs, there was a provision of French law that allowed those condemned to death to marry civilly (marriage in extremis).  Lucie saved her husband and the other captured resistance members by tricking the Gestapo captain into releasing her husband so that they could get "married".  On the day of their "marriage" Lucie and other Resistance members attacked the Germans transporting the prisoners.  They rescued everyone and had to leave France since their true identities had been revealed.  The Aubracs fled to London and raised their children in the United Kingdom for the remainder of the war.  Post-war, Lucie renewed her teaching license and began teaching history again.  She was also an activist for human rights and published her memoirs in a book which translated into English is called Outwitting the Gestapo.  Lucie died in 2007 near Paris.

I think it is pretty obvious that Lucie Aubrac was a very brave woman who believed strongly that the risks that she and her fellow Resistance members were taking were worth taking for the sake of their country.  When Raymond was captured, Lucie was able to keep her cool and do whatever she needed to do to save her husband and protect her family.

For more about Lucie visit these links!

Lucie Aubrac wikipedia

Lucie Aubrac obituary

Towards the end of this part of a documentary called Great Escapes of WWII,
Lucie and Raymond Aubrac tell their story of escape.

The Singer - Edith Piaf

Piaf in 1962

Édith Giovanna Gassion was born in December of 1915 and was abandoned by her mother at birth.  Her father, a street performer/acrobat, sent his daughter to live with his mother.  Edith's paternal grandmother ran a brothel and it was here that Edith was raised.  There is an interesting story about her time in the brothel in Normandy.  From the age of three to about seven, Edith was supposedly blind because she suffered from keratitis, inflammation of the cornea.  The prostitutes who were raising her pooled some of their money together so that young Edith could go on a pilgrimage honoring St. Therese de Lisieux.  After going on this pilgrimage, Edith's sight was restored!  In 1929, Edith left the brothel to join her father.  At 14 she began performing on the streets with her father and a young woman named Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, who may have been her half sister.  At 17, Edith and her boyfriend Louis Dupont had a daughter, Marcelle, who later died at age 2 of meningitis and neglect.

1935 was an important year for Edith.  She was discovered by a night club owner named Louis Leplée.  Leplée encouraged the budding artist and gave her gigs to sing in his nightclub, jump starting her career.  He also is attributed with giving her the stage name "La Môme Piaf" or "The Little Sparrow" and telling her to wear a black dress, the only outfit she would ever wear during performances.  Edith would eventually adopt the name Edith Piaf after Leplée's murder in 1936.  Around this time Edith began recording her first records.  Edith would go on to become one of France's greatest entertainers and had influence all around the world.

During World War II, Edith was sometimes called a traitor.  This was because she often sang for the German forces in occupied France.  She later defended her actions by stating that she was helping the French Resistance. Edith may have helped several people during the war including a Jewish man escaping German persecution.  She dated a Jewish pianist during the war and with contributions from her friend and songwriter Marguerite Monnot, wrote a song in subtle protest of the war.  Her songs may have been helpful in boosting the morale of French troops.

After suffering injuries caused by a car accident in 1951, Edith may have began abusing morphine and alcohol.  Edith Piaf continued singing up until 1963 when she died from liver cancer.  over 100,000 fans were present at her funeral in Paris.  Piaf's songs are still used today in films or just for personal enjoyment.  Her life also inspired several films and plays about her life.

I think Edith used her popularity appropriately, she was helpful during war times, and after the war she went on tours in the countries involved in the war including the United States and some European and Latin American countries.  Her patriotism to her country is evident by her involvement in occupied France.  Her popularity, even with the enemy, was helpful to the French Resistance's cause. Also the fact that she could rise above her impoverished beginnings to become a 20th century superstar is pretty amazing.  I enjoyed listening to one of her songs (posted below) and I really liked how she commanded the attention of the audience with nothing but her voice.  There are no distractions like crazy outfits or dubbed over voices, it is just her, in her trademark black dress.

For more about Edith Piaf visit these links!

Édith Piaf wikipedia

The Fashion Designer - Coco Chanel

Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883,  Coco Chanel would become one of the most important female fashion designers of the early 20th century.  Chanel was born in Samur, France to a poor, at the time, unwed couple.  After Chanel's mother died, her father sent all of his daughters to a nearby convent.  There Chanel was educated and learned how to sew.  At 18 Chanel had to choose between joining the religious community or making her own way in the world.  She chose to leave.

Chanel found work as a seamstress, but would also sing in a cabaret often. She gained her nickname "Coco" because of her version of the popular song "Ko Ko Ri Ko".  Much of her early life Chanel did not care to recount and sometimes she would even make up stories of her past or deny certain facts about her past.  After her aspiration of a stage career failed, Chanel met one of her first lovers, Balsan.  She lived with him for about three years and was introduced to wealth and luxury for probably the first time in her life.  In 1908 she began her affair with Balsan's friend Arthur 'Boy' Capel.  They were together for nine years and Capel even helped finance Chanel's first shop.  He died in a car accident in 1919, a devastating event for Chanel.  Chanel would have other relationships in her life, but these initial affairs launched her into the next stage of her life.

Chanel's first shop was a boutique in Deauville.  She sold luxury casual clothing made from cheap jersey.  In 1916, after success in Deauville, Chanel opened another boutique in Biarritz.  Three years later in 1919, Chanel was registered a couturier and was able to establish a maison de couture.  Chanel enjoyed continued success and made the acquaintance of many important people including Winston Churchill.  During World War II, Chanel closed her store.  During this time she lived at the Hotel Ritz and even had a relationship with a German officer.  It is even believed that she worked as a Nazi agent for a time during the war.  She reopened her fashion house in 1954.  Chanel died at 87 years old in 1971.  I definitely skipped over certain parts of Chanel's life because it is very well documented and I could probably write five more paragraphs just on her biography!  Chanel is a heroine for women because as she said herself "[She] freed the body" from the constraints of corsets and other unnecessary or over the top elements of female attire in the years before.  She brought new things to women's fashion, daring things like the "Chanel" suit or the little black dress.

Learn more about Chanel at these links!

Coco Chanel - Voguepedia

Coco Chanel wikipedia

The Sculptor - Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel was a French sculptor and artist born in the winter of 1864.  Much of her childhood was spent moving from place to place with her family in the northern France countryside.  Her father worked with mortgages and banking.  In 1881, Camille went with her mother and younger siblings to live in Paris.  Her younger brother, Paul Claudel, would eventually become a poet and diplomat.  Camille and her family were living in the artistic Montparnasse area of Paris.  

During Camille's childhood, in the Villeneuve-sur-Fère region, she was inspired by the landscape and became passionate about stone and working with stone.  Camille began studying at the Académie Colarossi, an academy founded by an Italian sculptor.  There she was mentored by a sculptor named Alfred Boucher.  Boucher was well loved by his students, but he passed on their instruction to Auguste Rodin.  In 1884, Camille began working in Rodin's studio and she became his muse and lover.  Their intimate relationship ended in 1892 when Rodin refused to end his relationship with his wife.  Camille's mother did not approve of her daughter's involvement in the arts so Camille moved out.  Claudel was successful even after breaking things off with Rodin.  She did not need a man's influence of help to get attention for her artwork.

Camille began to appear mentally ill around 1905.  She was destroying her own sculptures, disappearing randomly, and appearing paranoid.  She was even known to accuse Rodin of stealing her ideas for new pieces of work and of plotting her death.  Soon after her father's death in early 1913, Paul had Camille admitted into an asylum.  Camille lived the last thirty years of her life in the asylum at Montfavet.  Reports from the asylum stated that she suffered from systematic persecution delirium based on false interpretations and imagination.  Over the years the staff at the asylum asked to have Camille released because they did not think that she was mentally unwell enough to be living there, but her family refused to have her released.  Her mother only allowed Paul to write Camille letters and when Camille died in 1943, Paul was the only member of her family who could be with her when she passed.

At least ninety of Camille's sculptures and drawings survive today and Camille's life has inspired a few plays/ballets and movies.  I am unsure as to why Camille is a heroine of France.  Her life seems very interesting and probably the most heroic thing she did was to study art during a time when women could not even study art at the École des Beaux-Arts.  She is surely inspirational for other female artists of that time.

More about Camille Claudel here!

Camille Claudel Wikipedia