Anna Féresse-Deraismes (1 October 1821 – 19 January 1910) was a French feminist activist for women's rights and a Freemason. She was appointed honorary president of the International Congress of Women in 1896 and 1900, and was a founding member of the first mixed-gender Masonic Order, Le Droit Humain.

Maria Deraismes Maria Deraismes (17 August 1828 – 6 February 1894) was a French author, Freemason, and major pioneering force for women's rights. Biography Born in Paris, France, Paris, Maria Deraismes grew up in Pontoise in the city's northwest outsk ...

was her sister.

Biography

Anna Féresse-Deraismes was born in Paris, October 1, 1821. She came from a liberal bourgeois family. Her father was an anticlerical

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, then an orphan, was taken in by the Deraismes family in 1842. Féresse-Deraismes took charge of the education of her younger sister, Maria, when their father died in 1852. Féresse-Deraismes played a discreet role in the wake of her younger sister as she became better recognized. Both sisters inherited the fortune of their parents, and Anna Féresse went to live with her sister, who never married, when she became a widow. They both shared the same ideas and had the same access to education in their younger years. Following Maria's death in 1894, Féresse-Deraismes gathered her sister's work in ''Oeuvres complètes de Maria Deraismes'' which appeared in 1895 and 1896. At the International Congress of Women, Paris, 9 April 1896, Féresse-Deraismes was appointed honorary president and thus came into contact with

Maria Pognon Maria Pognon née Rengnet (15 February 1844 – 17 April 1925) was a French journalist, editor, feminist, suffragist, pacifist and freemason, who is remembered for her success as a women's rights activist in the late 19th century. From 1892 to 19 ...

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, Louise Koppe, and

Eugénie Potonié-Pierre Eugénie Potonié-Pierre (1844–1898 Paris) was a French feminist who founded the Federation of French Feminist Societies in 1892. She joined the Society for the Amelioration of Women's Condition with Léon Richer and Maria Deraismes in the 187 ...

. Féresse-Deraismes continued her sister's feminist struggle as a member of the "Société pour l'amélioration du sort de la femme et la revendication de ses droits" (Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Women and the Vindication of Their Rights) and served as Honorary President of the International Congress of Women in 1900. Féresse-Deraismes was a founding member of the first mixed-gender Masonic Order, Le Droit Humain. In 1904, she became a member of the "Association Nationale des Libres Penseurs de France" (National Association of Free Thinkers of France). In December 1898, Féresse-Deraismes gave a funeral oration for Virginie Griess-Traut, whom she knew well. Féresse-Deraismes was invited to various other gatherings, including that for the new statue of Charles Fourier on Boulevard de Clichy in June 1899 or for the publication of Émile Zola's novel ''Travail'' (''Labor''). She died 19 January 1910, in the

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Selected works

* ''Oeuvres complètes de Maria Deraismes'' (compiled) * ''Allocution de Mme Féresse-Deraismes, Présidente d'honneur du Congrès, Présidente de la Sociéte pour l'amélioration du sort de la femme et la revendication de ses droits.'', 1900

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feresse-Deraismes, Anna 1821 births 1910 deaths People from Paris French feminists French book editors French women editors French Freemasons French women's rights activists 19th-century French women Deraismes family