''La Française'', subtitled ''Journal de progrès féminin'', was a French language reformist feminist

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

published in France. It was founded in 1906 by feminist Jane Misme, who ran it until 1926, when

Cécile Brunschvicg Cécile Brunschvicg (), born Cécile Kahn (19 July 1877 in Enghien-les-Bains – 5 October 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine), was a French feminist politician. From the 1920s until her death she was regarded as "the ''grande dame'' of the feminist move ...

, the future under-secretary of state under the Popular Front, took over. The title was published until 1940. This weekly gave a national audience to the cause of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. It even became the mouthpiece for the

French Union for Women's Suffrage The French Union for Women's Suffrage (UFSF: ) was a French feminist organization formed in 1909 that fought for the right of women to vote, which was eventually granted in 1945. The Union took a moderate approach, advocating staged introduction o ...

, founded by

Jeanne Schmahl Jeanne Elizabeth Schmahl (née Archer; 1846–1915) was a French feminist, born in Britain. She married a well-off husband who supported her while she worked as a midwife's assistant in Paris. She decided to avoid politics and religion and to fo ...

in 1909.

The paper followed developments in women's legislation in specialized sections such as "Le Féminisme au Parlement" and "Les Lois d'intérêt féminin au Parlement". From 1906 to 1913,

Germaine Dulac Germaine Dulac (; born Charlotte Elisabeth Germaine Saisset-Schneider; 17 November 1882 – 20 July 1942)Flitterman-Lewis 1996 was a French filmmaker, film theorist, journalist and critic. She was born in Amiens and moved to Paris in early chil ...

also wrote "mainly portraits of women and theater reviews". Marianne Rauze was responsible for the "work" section during the same period. Jeanne Oddo-Deflou, Pauline Rebour, and were contributors, created posters for the periodical. An issue of ''La Française'' published on 5 July 1914 presents Condorcet alongside figures of suffragism as well as demands in favor of women's right to vote. On January 20, 1923, ''La Française'' wrote the obituary of Camille Bloch. directed a family education magazine, ''L'Ami du Foyer'', which joined ''La Française'' in 1927. In 1932, the portrait of Reysa Bernson appeared on the cover of ''La Française''. Under the direction of Brunschvicg, ''La Française'' continued to support feminist struggles, while keeping an open eye on French political life and international affairs. Although a member of the Radical Party, Brunschvicg sought to maintain a certain neutrality, but this did not prevent her, for example, from strongly criticizing the participants in the riots of February 6, 1934, or denouncing

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

as early as 1933. While Brunschvicg was a member of the Popular Front government (under-secretary of state in the Ministry of National Education), she virtually stopped writing for her magazine, before becoming its editor again in June 1937. The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

holds a number of issues.

Notable people

* Alice Kaub-Casalonga * Jane Misme * Jeanne Oddo-Deflou * Marianne Rauze * Pauline Rebour * Blanche Vogt

References

Bibliography

Issue no. 1
via Gallica
''L'hebdomadaire La Française (1906-1940) : le journal du féminisme réformiste''
article by Cécile Formaglio (pp. 33-47) in ''Le Temps des Médias'', no. 19 (2017), , Nouveau Monde éditions {{DEFAULTSORT:Francaise Newspapers established in 1906 Newspapers disestablished in 1940 Women's suffrage in France Weekly newspapers published in France Defunct feminist magazines published in France Defunct weekly newspapers Defunct newspapers published in France

Notable people

See also

References

Bibliography