Suzanne Voilquin
Suzanne Voilquin | |
---|---|
Born | Suzanne Monnier 1801 Paris, France |
Died | c. 1876–1877 Paris, France |
Nationality | French |
Suzanne Monnier Voilquin (1801 – December 1876 or January 1877) was a French
Biography
Early life
Suzanne Voilquin (née Monnier) was born in Paris in 1801 to a working-class family. She received some
Marriage and Saint-Simonism
Suzanne met and married Eugène Voilquin, an architect in 1825. The couple became supporters of
Tribune des femmes
From 1832 to 1834, Suzanne wrote for and edited The Tribune des femmes, the first known working-class, feminist journal (Its editors rejected the use of last names, as subordinating the women to either their fathers or their husbands). Suzanne and the other writers, including Marie-Reine Guindorf and Désirée Gay (Jeanne Desirée Véret Gay) stressed the need for women's rights to divorce, education and work. Suzanne, in particular, emphasized the need for the protection of mothers.[2] In 1834 Suzanne also published Ma loi d’Avenir by fellow Saint-Simonian Claire Démar after she and her lover, Perret Desessarts, killed themselves.[3]
With Enfantin's release from jail in 1834, Suzanne accepted the Saint-Simonian call to spread the word of the movement throughout the world. She announced in April, 1834 that she would join other Saint-Simonian women such as Clorinde Roge and travel to Egypt [4] to work with the French medical doctors, scientists and engineers, including Ferdinand de Lesseps. Suzanne pledged herself to a “Life of Active Propaganda,” whereby she would support herself in an effort to show other women that they too could be independent.
Travels and a life of “Active Propaganda”
Work was scarce in Egypt where many people were quarantined due to the plague. Suzanne began assisting a French doctor who taught her medicine in exchange for her tutoring his Egyptian children. She studied
In France, Suzanne became certified as a midwife, studied
Women's rights again surfaced with the
Suzanne Voilquin died in Paris in December 1876 or January 1877.
Writings
- Mémoires d’une saints-simonienne en Russie (1839-1846). Edited by Maïté Albistur and Daniel Armogathe. Paris: Éditions des femmes, 1977.
- Souvenirs d’une fille du peuple ou Saint-simonienne en Égypte. Paris: Chez E. Sauzet, 1866.
- Souvenirs d’une fille du peuple ou Saint-simonienne en Égypte. Introduction by Lydia Elhadad. Paris: François Maspero, 1978.
- Tribune des femmes (Paris), 1832–1834, contributor and editor.
Bibliography
- Manuel, Frank, The Prophets of Paris. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.
- Moses, Claire Goldberg, French Feminism in the 19th Century. New York: State University of New York, 1984.
- Moses, Claire Goldberg and Rabine, Leslie Wahl, Feminism, Socialism and French Romanticism. Indiana University Press, 1993.
- Ragan, John David, “French Women Travellers in Egypt: A Discourse Marginal to Orientalism?” in Starkey, Paul and Starkey, Janet, Travellers in Egypt. London: Tauris Parke, 2001.
References
- ^ Frank E. Manuel, “Children of Saint-Simon: The Triumph of Love,” in Prophets of Paris (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962).
- ^ Claire Goldberg Moses, French Feminism in the 19th Century (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1984)
- ^ Claire Goldberg Moses and Leslie Wahl Rabine, Feminism, Socialism and French Romanticism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993).
- ^ Yaël Schlick, "Feminism and the Politics of Travel after the Enlightenment" (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington Books, 2012)
- ^ John David Ragan, “French Women Travellers: A Discourse Marginal to Orientalism?” in Paul Starkey and Janet Starkey, eds. Travellers in Egypt (London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2001).
- ^ Moses, p. 127-149.