This article is to share the history and details of women in the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 34 ...

History

Women have been able to serve in political office in France since 1944. In 1997, only 5.9% of senators were women. In 2015, 25% of senators were women. In mid-1999, an amendment was added to the

French Constitution The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a Constitu ...

mandating gender parity in electoral candidates for senators. General de Gualle declared in June 23, 1942 that "all men and women will elect the National Assembly". Marthe Simard and

Lucie Aubrac Lucie Samuel (29 June 1912 – 14 March 2007), born Lucie Bernard, and better known as Lucie Aubrac (), was a French history teacher and member of the French Resistance during World War II. In 1938, she earned an agrégation of history (somethi ...

were appointed members of the

Provisional Consultative Assembly The Provisional Consultative Assembly (french: Assemblée consultative provisoire) was a governmental organ of Free France that operated under the aegis of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) and that represented the resist ...

of Algiers:. From 1944-1945, 16 women sat as delegates to this assembly Lucie Aubrac, Madeleine Braun, Gilberte Brossolette, , Claire Davinroy, , , , ,

Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux (26 February 1904 – 25 February 1964) was a French women's and human rights activist. During World War II, she was a member of the French Resistance and orchestrated her husband's release from Buchenwald concentratio ...

, Mathilde Gabriel-Péri, Pauline Ramart, Marthe Simard,

Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier (born Vogel; 3 November 1912 – 11 December 1996) was a member of the French Resistance as well as a photojournalist, Communist and later, French politician. Biography Photojournalist Vaillant-Couturier's fath ...

, , and

Andrée Viénot Andrée Viénot (7 June 1901 – 20 October 1976) was a French politician. Biography Andrée Viénot was born as Andrée Mayrisch on 7 June 1901 in Dudelange. She studied political economy in London School of Economics. In 18 July 1929 she ...

. In 1946, 6.69% of senators were women, and the percentage decreased until only 1.4% in 1971. As a result of the law of parity, in 2021 women made up a third of the senators.

List of prominent female senators

Parliamentary group leaders

References

{{Women in government Senate (France) French women in politics Women's rights in France