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| Impoverished
women in 19th century France faced a distinctly different set of circumstances
than men of the same social class. Not only did they have new dangers-
unwanted pregnancies that might jeopardize their livelihood, the venereal
diseases that plagued unregistered prostitutes, etc.- but their options
were far more limited. |
Eugene
Delacriox, La Liberté
Guidant Le Peuple
(1830). This symbolic image of women revolutionizing
France was to some extent realized by working women's activism.
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Unlike
genteel young women, who might be permitted lessons at a convent,
women of the poorer classes, without this opportunity, were confined
to menial labor in factories or households, where succumbing to sexual
harassment was essentially in their job description.
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Occasionally,
though, these lower-class women found outlets for their voices.
One of the most prominent and revolutionary factions were the Saint-Simonians.
"All for the improvement of the most numerous and poorest class"
served as the motto of the Globe, the group's official newspaper,
and this was hardly an overstatement. Led by Father Enfantin and
Monsieur Bazard, the Saint-Simonians were committed to remedying
social evils, primarily through improving the situation of the impoverished,
but also through striving towards gender equality. Added poignancy
was provided by the fact that women were directly involved in the
movement, and their presence was actually encouraged-- something
that did not occur among the Republican organizations of the time.
Suzanne Voilquin, who later emerged as a leading feminist and social
critic, was a hat-maker's daughter who worked as an embroiderer;
other members such as Madame Bazard, Aglae Saint-Hilaire, and Cecile
Fournel, provided an alternative image to that of frivolous salonnières
concerning solely with society.
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Newspapers
provided the major forum for expression their perspective. Women
were heavily involved in this as well, and the logical extension
were publications such as the Femme nouvelle and the Tribune
des femmes, both of which consisted of writings from women like
Voilquin. They were immortalized by her as "our poor little
papers, created and continued by proletarian women deprived of fortune,
social standing, and an elementary education to light our path."
They contained impassioned pleas for equal access to education,
an improvement in factory conditions, and numerous other related
issues that concerned the Saint-Simonians as a unit.
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Eduard Manet,
Woman Pouring
Off Water (1858). The conditions of rural women,
often neglected by social reformers, was addressed extensively
by the Saint-Simonians, making them one of the most inclusive
such groups.
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The Saint-Simonians
drew heavily on Biblical text for the social views. Indefinite progress
was their mantra, which was in turn linked to a notion of God-given
liberty for all people. Therefore, the poor classes required assistance
because their financial situation suppressed them so greatly. Inextricable
overlap between social, economic, and moral principles was key to
their doctrine. Even their belief in equal rights for women was
founded on religious grounds. Father Enfantin himself was quoted
as proclaiming, "Women, like us, you are in God! Thus it is
your right to be free! Show yourselves, make yourselves known, we
will respect your words and your acts." Through the means of
the Saint-Simonian group, many working-class women did just that.
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