A few historical facts
French women’s suffrage or right to vote was acquired relatively late, on April 21, 1944. This important step was taken thanks to the Provisional Government of General Charles de Gaulle, in recognition of the contribution of women during the Second World War.
The government order stated that “women are eligible voters under the same terms as men.” This decree was incorporated into the French Constitution on October 27, 1946, affirming that “the law guarantees women equal rights to those of men in all areas“.
While this step towards equality was a major advance, it also revealed underlying concerns among politicians. The idea that this “unknown electorate”, representing 55% of the population at the time, could potentially shake up the political landscape, aroused apprehensions.
Despite gaining the right to vote, not all women immediately exercised this new privilege—those who made him vote for the first time in the municipal elections of April 29, 1945.
Revolutionaries against French women’s suffrage
Before the Revolution of 1789, the right to vote was reserved for delegates of the three estates: the clergy, the nobility and the third estate. The people were excluded from the vote!
After the Revolution, from 1789 to 1791, voting was conducted under a system of indirect suffrage based on the census, in which only citizens whose cumulative direct taxes exceeded a certain threshold were granted the right to vote. This system effectively limited access to the right to vote to the wealthiest.
Universal male suffrage was officially established on August 11, 1792.
However, the revolutionaries did not consider women as “individuals in their own right” because they did not occupy what was considered a “proper job”. They were primarily assigned to domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning and managing the household, while also striving to provide for their large families.
These “revolutionaries” have obscured the fact that it was women who marched on Versailles on October 5 and 6, 1789, demanding bread from Louis XVI after a disastrous harvest that had led to a flour shortage and a sharp rise in bread prices.
They also ignored that women had forced the king to sign the decrees confirming the abolition of privileges and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Despite these results, they persisted in viewing women as passive and unproductive citizens. French women’s suffrage was still far from being a given!
Napoleon granted women civil rights
Emperor Napoleon I granted women civic rights in his Code of 1804; however, they were still denied the right to vote.
Universal male suffrage was finally abolished and replaced by census suffrage during the Bourbon Restoration. However, the revolutionaries reinstated universal male suffrage during the Revolution of 1848, once again relegating women to the bottom of the social ladder! They felt that being a mother and a housewife was too far removed from the harsh realities of work and therefore incompatible with the right to vote. Not only did they consider women to be “passive citizens”, but they also judged them to be too immature to vote!
Even the actions of the first suffragettes did not influence the condition of women. Olympe de Gouges published a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen in 1791, and various feminist associations demonstrated to obtain recognition of these rights. Unfortunately, this had no effect.
Not entirely, though… These efforts certainly opened a breach in the system, but nothing would change for decades.
WWII, the turning point for French women’s suffrage!
The First World War had no impact on French women’s suffrage, despite the loss of 10% of the active male population. However, women took over while the men were at the front: they cultivated the land and ran the factories to replace the millions of men who died in the trenches.
They mourned their dead and, over the next two decades, rebuilt and repopulated the country. Still, they were denied the right to vote!
The turning point came during World War II, when women again contributed once again to the war effort by working in factories and supporting troops at the front.
General de Gaulle finally recognized their value and their contribution to the nation and, on April 21, 1944, promulgated a decree granting women the right to vote in France. This decree was an important step towards women’s suffrage, but the formal inclusion of women’s right to vote in the French Constitution came later, on October 27, 1946.
This was the first major victory of the 20th century for gender equality in France. French women voted for the first time in municipal elections on April 29, 1945. They voted again in presidential elections on October 21, 1945. Since then, the status of women in French society has continued to improve and progress.
The right to vote is defined in the French Constitution as follows:
“Tout Français majeur a le droit de voter sans distinction de sexe, d’origine, de religion ou d’idéaux politiques.”- “All French adults have the right to vote regardless of gender, origin, religion, or political ideals.”
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Marie Olympe de Gouges by Bonarov CC BY-SA 4.0 – Declarations des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen and Header by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier (1738–1826) Pubblico dominio – Women in agriculture during WWI by Domaine public – Woman in industry during WWI by Lewis G P Domaine public
