Julie Siegfried

Julie Siegfried (born Julie Puaux: 13 February 1848 – 28 May 1922) was a French feminist. She served as president of the Conseil National des femmes françaises (CNFF/ literally, "National Council of French Women") between 1913 and 1922.

Julie Siegfried
Born
Louise Henriette Julie Puaux

(1848-02-13)13 February 1848
Luneray, Seine-Inférieure, France
Died28 May 1922(1922-05-28) (aged 74)
Paris, France
OccupationFeminist activist
Spouse(s)Jules Siegfried (1837-1922)
ChildrenJules Siegfried (1870-1943)
André Robert Siegfried (1875-1959)
Robert Siegfried (1883-1923)
Parent(s)François Puaux (1806-1895)
Mathilde Léorat (1816-1883)

Early life and family

Julie Puaux was born on 13 February 13 1848 in Luneray, a small town couple of miles inland from Dieppe in Normandy, France. Luneray is one of the few places in this part of France to have a significant Protestant population. The Puaux family was Protestant, moderately prosperous and, at a time when the political and social reverberations of the revolution were still very much alive, anti-monarchist and passionately anti-catholic. François Puaux (1806-1895), Julie's father, was the minister at the (Protestant) Reformed Church in the town[1] Julie's siblings included Frank Puaux (1844-1922), himself a Protestant minister-theologian and a noted historian of Protestantism in France.[2] On 2 February 1869 Julie Puaux married Jules Siegfried (1837-1922) at Alès (Gard).[3] He was a successful businessman and politician originally from Alsace. The couple's son, André Siegfried (1875-1959), would later become known to English speakers for his commentaries on American, Canadian, and British politics.[4]

Career

Siegfried was a feminist. Initially the focus of her energies was on education provision for girls in Le Havre, the major port city of which her husband served as the mayor (1870-1873 and 1878-1886). There was an apprenticeship college and, in 1880, a primary school. Then, in 1885, she was involved in setting up one of the first girls' secondary schools (lycées de fille).[5] Soon after her husband was elected to the Chambre des députés (parliament) in 1885 the couple moved to Paris, setting up home initially in a centrally positioned apartment at 6 rond-point des Champs-Elyses and moving after ten years, to what became the family home at 226 boulevard Saint-Germain in the city's fashionable Left Bank district.[6] Julie Siegfried now engaged actively in various feminist organisations and actions. She took part in the conferences at Versailles that were arranged by Sarah Monod and was involved with the journal, "La Femme".[7] She worked with the Union française pour le suffrage des femmes(UFSF / "French Union for Women's Suffrage") and, most prominently, with the Conseil National des femmes françaises (CNFF/ literally, "National Council of French Women") of which she served as president between January 1913[8] and her death in 1922, in succession to Sarah Monod, the CNFF's first president.[9] She became vice-president of the International Council of Women, of which the CNFF is the French branch. She also presided over the "League for Moral Education".[10] But her most important role involved her CNFF work. The CNFF was the largest feminist organisation in France, with 21,000 members in 1900 and almost 100,000 in 1914. Its objectives included the provision of support, hygiene improvements, women's education and work for women. But its strongest advocacy concerned votes for women. In this campaign Julie Siegfried was strongly backed by her husband. Jules Siegfried and his parliamentary colleagues managed to have the necessary motion tabled and positively received in the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) in 1909, but there was no vote: at this stage, and for many more years even after the necessary legislation had been passed by the lower house in 1919, women's suffrage was blocked by the Senate (upper house).[11]

Celebration

In 1919 Julie Siegried was made a knight of the legion of honour[8] in recognition, formally, of her work as president or founder of welfare support organisations and for war [welfare] work ("présidente ou fondatrice d’œuvres d'assistance ou d’œuvres de guerre").[8]

Death

Julie Siegfried died on May 28, 1922, predeceasing her husband by less than four months.

References
  1. "François Puaux (1806-1895)". Musée virtuel du Protestantisme. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  2. Henri Frédéric Amiel (1978). Footnote 1. Journal intime. L'AGE D'HOMME. p. 316. GGKEY:4753D2FZHDD.
  3. Léonore, acte de mariage.
  4. Karen Grandy (15 August 2007). "André Siegfried". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, Toronto. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  5. "Julie Siegfried (Luneray 1848-Paris 1922) Féministe" (PDF). Conseil National des femmes françaises. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  6. André-Louis Sanguin (2010). "Andre Siegfried, Unvisionnaire humaniste entre géographie et politique". L’Harmattan, Paris & DOCSLIDE.NET. ISBN 978-2-296-11831-7. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  7. "La Femme". 29 Years available - 631 Issues. BnF Gallica. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  8. "Décret du 26 mai 1919". pp. 1–16. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  9. David Feutry (11 October 2017). Rebelles de la foi. Les protestants en France, XVI-XXIe siècle. Humensis. p. 204. ISBN 978-2-410-01268-2.
  10. Karen Offen (11 January 2018). The Great War and the Woman Question. Debating the Woman Question in the French Third Republic, 1870–1920. Cambridge University Press. p. 572. ISBN 978-1-316-99159-6.
  11. Anne-Sarah Bouglé-Moalic, Le vote des Françaises : Cent ans de débats 1848-1944, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2012 ISBN 978-2-7535-2083-7
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